The Pious Man

This transcript is machine-generated and may contain errors in names, terminology, or attribution.

[coughing] [clattering] Pickaxe. Coming to Apple TV+ on August 9th. You're the Marine? Yeah, you're the ex-con. Yeah, I did time, but you only gotta cast aspersions at me. From the director of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and "The Bourne Identity" comes a new film. This your first job? I know what I'm doing. I'm a little late for a crit change. Starring Matt Damon. Everybody in New England is after us. And Casey Affleck. Go, go, go, go, go! What are you doing? Taking notes. Taking notes on a criminal conspiracy. "The Instigators", rated R. Streaming August 9th on Apple TV+.

This summer, during the biggest sporting event of the year, Peacock turns to two broadcasting legends for the Olympics coverage you can't find anywhere else. Um, I think they mean us. Oh, s***. Um... [clears throat] With an incredible duo sure to take home the comedy gold. Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson. New episodes Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Only on Peacock. Hello, folks. This is Scott McAvoy. I play Marcus Santa in Group 3. And we'd just like to take a moment to say thank you for listening. And please, if you're listening out there, rate us on iTunes.

It really helps us. Give us a good rating. Let us know what you think of the show. And get your mailbag episode is coming up. So get your emails in so we can answer your questions. Ask us anything you like. Who knows what we're gonna say, 'cause who knows what we do on a regular basis? Thanks, folks. So let's go around the table and introduce ourselves. I'm Jason. I'm the Dungeon Master. Going around the table, we got Bree. Hi there. I'm Brianna and I'm going to be playing Judzia Grace, the star-packed warlock. And Merlin. Hello, I'm Merlin. I'm playing Gavin Dearborn, the warlord.

And Scott. Hi, I'm Scott McAvoy. I play the character known as Marcus Santa, the human cleric. And Izzy. Hi, I'm Izzy. I play Una, the half-elf paladin. Okay. So last time, you guys really shook things up and you managed to capture the leader of the White Ravens and then torture her for information. That's made you very popular, by the way. The emails are just... Muah. Just fantastic. Christ. Like I said, target on your backs. And I think all of Group 1 has listened to it. Wow. That is first. It should feel special. I know. So, because of that, you guys were kind of given the rest of the evening off just to get yourself together and then you were supposed to head out to Durnhollow the next morning.

So let's catch up with the group. Next morning, you're all set to go, recharged, ready. Before you head out, just some lowly private is delivering a message to you guys. And he hands this note to Gavin. I thank the private. Give him a sharp salute and then look over the documentation. All it says is, it's just a little scrawled note. It says, "Report to Commander Grace immediately." Alright, I'll go ahead and gather the troops. You guys were just at this guy's office yesterday and this is highly irregular because normally there's a chain of command. You guys have basically skipped all the way up the ladder.

But with good reason. With good reason, yes. I mean, you guys basically just handed this guy a nuke. I mean, this is huge. Heading back into this guy's office, Commander Grace sees you and... doesn't really salute so much as just kind of like gesture. Like, he's beyond that. Not like how a young private would be like, "Oh, really sharp salute. This guy's just almost like a wave." Just come in. Come in. I'll take the cue to not like all super salute and stuff. Alright, step on in. Right. You wanna see a sir? Yes, we have a bit of a situation. In the next room, we have a defector.

From what would appear to be Malchus' small army. He came to us in the middle of the night. And to my understanding, he wants to join our calls. The problem is that His Highness himself has a personal history with the man and... I'm honestly not sure how we'd react to him being a part of this city in general. What I'd like you to do is firstly get any information you can out of him. See how serious he is about joining our calls and if so, what he'd be willing to do to prove his loyalty. We can't exactly take him at his word right now. The man's name is Rotswell Joy-Betam.

If you could get any information about Malchus himself or... why he's back, how he came back, what he's planning to do, all of that would be incredibly useful. You got it. Yes sir. And he just kind of hands you the keys to this... it's kind of a holding cell. Like around the corner, down the hall type of thing. So I guess we should introduce Dan. Hi Dan. Hi. Hi Dan. Hello. Surprise! I love your work. I do my best. He's okay. Um... Pretty odd. So I leave this in your capable hands. What would you guys like to do here? I have a question. Jesus, you ready? Am I tied up?

Like what position am I? No, no, no. You're not tied up. You're just... it's more like... You're having a seat, there's a table there, there's a chair. I mean you're not... You're being held, obviously, but you came, you turned yourself in, and they could definitely get something out of you, so they're treating you pretty pleasantly. Okay. Well, when you walk in, Rodswell is visibly praying. Imagine we peek through the bars on the door or whatever and then kind of scoot back real quick and look over the crew. So, how do you want to handle this? I'm wondering if we should send Marcus in because they're both holy men.

I think that's good. Clearly. I'd be happy to talk to him. That's an excellent idea. Do we recall from any kind of history or perhaps religion that what his, you know, if he has any sort of religious basis, or you know, sorry, what religious basis he has? Or is that common enough knowledge in the history books? Well, the history books don't talk about Rodswell all that much. He's... Fair enough. He's almost a background character in a lot of... The only other person that comes up is Ironhide for the most part. That's mostly because of the debate during the treaty signing thing, you know, that kind of thing.

That's what people scroll down. It's mostly Malchus and what an awful, awful tiefling he is. That kind of thing. Would they be able to tell from my holy symbol that I'm wearing around my neck, possibly? Yeah. If they get close enough. It's kind of a dead giveaway. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Okay. But you just don't know that much about him personally. Okay. Thank you. So yeah, Marcus, I believe you have the helm at this one. We're happy to, of course, back you up in any way we can. Okay. Folks, let me go in and talk to him first. As a man of the cloth to another man of the cloth, I want to judge to see where he's at right now.

If he has left his group, then something must be troubling him. So I want to go into the room alone first, if I can. Sure can. If you'll let me group. Well, I was actually, I was asking for the rest of my group and they felt comfortable letting me go in there. I think it would be better if you were alone. If we came with you, it might be kind of intimidating. Exactly. I don't want him to think that we're coming down on him like a ton of bricks right off the bat. Absolutely. Would you like me to hold your staff? Or sorry, you're warm. Hello. Hey, Roswell. How are you doing?

You're the priest. Good night, everybody. I'm not Thoril. You don't need to hold my staff. Oh. Yeah, I don't need to take my weapon in there. So there's no need for it right now. All right. So I'll go in and introduce myself. Hello, Roswell. My name is Marcus Santa. I am a lowly private in this army, but I would like to speak with you about what your intentions are. I'm assuming you have been briefed as to who I am and where I come from. Yes. And actually, to be honest, I'm surprised to see you here, but I'm happy to see you here as well. First off, let me ask you, is there anything that you need?

Have you been provided food and drink? I'm fine. Okay. Just wanted to make sure you were comfortable. Thank you. I'm not here to interrogate you. I'm not going to browbeat you. I want to find out why you have come to us. We've been told you've come here because you have information for us, but you have to understand we're looking at it from the side of why would you come to us with the information. What has happened to you? What has gone wrong? I joined up with a group of people strictly for the reasoning of trying to fulfill what my, well, I'll call him my son was doing.

After his death, I decided to take his mission, make it my own. And I got caught up in things that I never wanted to. I believed in the cause, but I never believed in the way they were doing things. And at some point, they just crossed a line that I can't go over anymore. I can understand that. There are lines that nobody should have to cross, especially men of the faith. I'm struggling to find control in this world. And at this point, I don't know if I care who has it. All right. Well, from our side right now, you have to understand that we're trying to bring order to this world.

We see this world as a chaotic place where things are allowed to happen that should not be allowed to happen. You have no idea the things I've seen. No, you're right. I don't. Let me back up what you're saying right now. I'm glad to hear it. What has gone on? The history books told us you left 17 years ago. What happened? Well, I was part of that group. And to be honest, we're not 100% sure. We went in and destroyed Drakh. And when we came out, it was 17 years later. You destroyed Drakh? You went to his tomb? Absolutely. That's incredible. That's the kind of power that you're facing.

That's what you're going to have to defeat if you want to win. We've gotten reports that something was growing out there, but we didn't know what it was. Alright, that sheds a little light on things. What are they doing right now? What caused the split between you two? Was there one incident? Was there an accumulation of things going on? I don't agree with their methods. Okay. So if they were to change their methods, you would consider working with them again? Or do you think that's beyond their ability to do? Through their methods, they've proven to me that it's beyond their ability to change.

Some of them think in certain ways that I might agree with, and some of them have ideals that I may agree with. But if that's the way that that group is going to go about changing things, I can't be a part of it. I'd rather see maybe someone that I don't agree with so much have full control than see somebody gain power by any means necessary. Okay, and you think that they're trying to gain power to control every... Do they want to control Theria? I don't know. I thought not. But I don't know anymore. I don't know. There are some people in that group that I can't read, that I can't trust.

I don't know. They've said they don't. That's what they've told me. But if I go by their actions, who knows? Okay, Rodswell, I'd like to ask a favor. Do you mind if I bring in my immediate officer, my commander, Gavin? I'd like for him to hear this as well. He is as honest as they come when it comes to dealing with people, and I trust him. I'd just like to have somebody else hear what you have to say from this point forward. Do you mind? Go ahead. Okay, I'm going to call Gavin into the room. Alright, Gavin, this is Rodswell. Rodswell, I'd like you to introduce you to Gavin.

He is my field commander. Give a quick nod. Nod back. What can you tell us about the group that you left? How many people... I would like the basics. I'm not expecting you to betray everything that they've done or who they are. I'd like some basic information. I understand you're going to still care for these people. You haven't completely turned your back on them, but we'd like to have some information based on what you're telling us now. Are you talking about the immediate group or who entirely you're facing? Let's start with the immediate group. We'll find out the entirety of what we're dealing with later, but we just found out from our sources that Malkus was still alive.

We thought they were gone. Malkus is the least of your concerns. I don't know why you're so worried about Malkus. He's the center of this. He's the one who started the whole thing. Malkus? He's the one in the history books. This is what we've all been taught. Yeah. I mean, Malkus, he has issues and he's powerful, but he's not... I mean, at least he has a purpose. At least he has a reasoning. Malkus is the least of your concerns. If he's not the one we need to worry about, who should we... I don't think you have a problem with Malkus. It's Draconis and Ironhide.

Draconis? This isn't the name we're familiar with. Go look at Durnhollow. Find out who Draconis is. How about that? I'm going to look at Gavin and just raise my eyebrow. Durnhollow, huh? Alright. Then what are we dealing with in the entirety there? What else do we have to worry about? They're unpredictable. They'll do anything. They'll do anything it takes to get what they need. And they don't care who they destroy. They pretend like they have a moral compass. It's a strange group. It's a strange group because some of them you look at and you see good and you see purity and you see reason.

And then some of them you look at and you see pure evil. They're unpredictable. Some of them are beasts. And I can't... I don't know. What do you want to know? How many are there? Is this an army that we're dealing with? Is this a set of adventurers? You don't even know your inn... Okay, so you know what? What do you know? Keep in mind, Rodswell, we're soldiers. We're a small group here that's just starting to learn what we're dealing with. We're not in command. We're all privates. We have commanders on high that are teaching us and we're starting to learn. So fill me in.

Do you know about the White Ravens? Yes, we have dealt with the White Ravens. We have heard about them. In the group of adventurers that I left, I left behind Draconis, Malkus, Yinward, Ironhide, and Thor. So five. So that group of five has amassed an army. I can't give you numbers. I mean, they have minotaurs, they have healers, they have towns on them. You're dealing with a much bigger group than I think you guys understand. Okay, so we are dealing with an army. We'll have to pass that along. Thank you very much so far. I appreciate it. Are you sure you don't need anything to drink or anything to eat?

I'm fine. Alright, I want you to be comfortable here. If you're going to make this town your home, you need to feel welcome and I believe you should. And I give you my word as a man of the cloth that I will help you in whatever way I can to be more comfortable with your surroundings here. Thank you. It was good to be respected. Gavin, is there anything you'd like to ask Rodswell? Yeah, I'm kind of in odds. Like, Marcus is clearly doing an excellent job of speaking with you and I don't want to come off as untoward and unkind, but I tend to be more a man of logic, reason, and science.

I guess what to say now is, "Where have you been for 17 years?" That's a really good question. I'm looking at you now and theoretically you don't appear to have the weight of the age upon you. Maybe you spoke to Marcus away from me and you've already explained this, but if you would kindly repeat yourself once more. Walked into a tomb 17 years ago, came out, it was 17 years later. A tomb? A tomb. They went to Drax's tomb, Gavin. That's... isn't that a myth? That's the equivalent, just to interject, that's the equivalent of you walking up to someone on the street corner and it's like, "Yeah, I just punched Zeus in the face, it was crazy." Can I show them the orb?

Oh yeah. I pull out the orb. You got that from Drax's tomb? Yes sir. Roll a history check please. 20. Recognize this orb. Marcus, I would imagine through his study, recognizes that orb and what it signifies, what it does. So that's also pretty shocking, that's a long lost artifact and the fact that Rodswell's just kind of holding it is like, "Oh shit!" That's pretty huge. Gavin, I have no reason to doubt Rodswell when he says they went to Drax's tomb. That artifact he is holding, that orb, has been lost for ages. If you have no reason to doubt, then I have no reason to doubt your word.

I am taking him at his word, they have been there as far as I'm concerned. It's a logical explanation if, well, obviously some time has passed and that's bizarre, but if it's unexplainable to Rodswell here and likely to any other crew, I'm sorry. As far as the details on the armies, the support that the White Ravens have and whatever may be done, we can go on about that later. I'm sure we can get documentation from you and all the other details that you have available. I mean, do you want names? Like what are you looking for? Well, names are fine. I'm looking at other things like that.

The professions, specializations, basically how, you know, if they're really good at killing, how do they do it? And just general information like that. But that's not the time nor place for this right now. This is not any sort of interrogation. We're trying to drag information out of you. Anything that you're not willing to share, we're not here to cause you any harm. Kind of look over at Marcus like, I'm treading all the ground, am I not? You're fine. He understands that you're going to have to ask certain questions again, just because I wanted him to explain it so I don't get it wrong as well.

White Ravens may not be a bad place to start with. Just as a quick refresher, we, as you can determine, are not exactly the more higher ups. But then again, that makes for a better position for us. Less expected to do great things. So if you can give us some information about what's the deal with the White Ravens. I've heard something about a lady with an eye patch. The White Ravens, they're, I don't want to say harmless, they're very defensive. They hold up to protect themselves from the Overwatch. They're only really fighting because my group rallied the troops, so to speak, and talked them into it.

They were fine. They were living in caves and taking what they needed. I, honestly, if it wasn't for our group, I don't think they'd be a threat and I'd almost wish you would just lay off of them, but I guess that's not really a choice at this point. No, unfortunately anybody who is going to stand against us will have to be treated as an enemy, but if you say that they are not a major threat, then we will look to others. There's powerful members within the group and they may be a major threat now, but that's fully through the fault of the men that I was traveling with.

Okay. Alright, I'd like to thank you for the moment. Would you mind if we stepped out? I'd like to confer with the rest of our group. We recently, we're a little understaffed in our own group. We recently lost a member in a conflict with the White Ravens. We still have some business to attend to with that, but... Sorry for your loss. Thank you. You know how it is. We do need to attend to that incident, but we also need to verify that this is... You're telling us that the group you are with is the head of the problem, but they are amassing a much larger problem to deal with, correct?

I guess I can't single out people individually within the group that are the problem. To you it's going to be one face, so the answer would be yes. Okay. Well, no, you've told us that Malkus is not the only one in the group that is a problem, and I believe you. I don't, like I said, I don't consider Malkus the problem, but... Okay. Kevin raises an eyebrow. Oh, Gavin wasn't here. Consider this, Raudeswell. For seventeen years, Malkus has been made the boogeyman. He is the face of what our town considers to be the problem. So when we speak of the problem, many people are going to think Malkus is the person to begin with.

So give us a moment, let me confer with the rest of our group and see if there's anything, if you can think of anything else that you wish to pass on to us, or... any other information that you think we could prove helpful, it would be greatly appreciated. Gavin, let's step out and talk to our team. Alright, we will. And just one more quick question. What is Raudeswell's worship? What's it, how do you pronounce it? A monotar. There you go. I always don't want to pronounce it wrong because I'm afraid I'm going to say a minotaur. Honestly, I don't know anything off the top of my head about that one.

May I roll a religion check? Sure. Thank you. I got a 22. Kind of think the god Ra, sun worship, that kind of thing. Okay, thank you. Very popular in a town, let's say, besieged by vampires, that type of thing. Alright, I'll quickly remove my hat, give him a polite bow and say "may the sun always watch over you" and then put my hat back on. Smooth. Alright, so let's step out and talk to our team. We'll fill them in on all the information we've just gleaned so far. Info dump? Is the captain there as well? He's still in his office. Commander? Commander, yeah. Do we need to go back and inform him?

Team? He did ask us to do that. We can advise that it's a light touch at this moment. And I will vouch that I believe he is being honest. What's he going to do to prove himself? We haven't gotten that far yet. I was just trying to make sure that he understood we weren't there to... Let's just say I wasn't going to una him. And try and let him know that we're not necessarily the bad guys that he thinks or thought we were. More flies with honey, right? Yes. We're going to go back to Commander Grace's office. What did you find out? We found out that, to be honest, I believe he is telling the truth.

That Malchus is returned. What he has said is the 17 years that they have been gone, they know nothing about. That they are raising an army against us. And that, according to him, Malchus is the least of our concerns right now. Malchus? Malchus is the least of our concerns. There are other members in Malchus's group that are even more dangerous than he is. You mentioned Ironhide, right? He did mention Ironhide, but he mentioned others. He mentioned a Draconis, which I'm not familiar with. Yen-Wurd? Yen-Wurd. And he said they are raising an army. They have healers and they have minotaur right now on their side.

And their plan is to march on the city, I would imagine. Eventually, but we're not sure when. I get the impression that they're not done raising the army yet. Yeah, they're being smart about this. At least, you know, that's... it kind of nods. That's what I would do. How are the ravens connected to this? He said they're bit players. That they weren't really a problem until Malchus showed up and his group talked them into being a problem. Rotswell said if we left them alone, they would not be a major issue. I find that highly dubious. They've attacked us several times in the Evergreen over the years.

Probably because they're close, sir. They're the front line people right now. They're the ones who are doing the nagging attacks. Have they done any serious damage to us or is it more nuisances? As of last week, it's serious damage. They've taken down an experimental unit that we've launched from the city. And it cost us a major chunk of the forest. So, yeah, I would call that a major inconvenience. Okay. Just a week ago... He may not know that that happened, sir. We can ask him about it if you wish. But I get the impression he is honest about this, sir. And as a man on the cloth, I don't believe he would lie to us.

Does he have any connection to the girl? We didn't give that information up, sir. I didn't feel the need to put out a name in case it was something we were keeping secret from the masses as is. Kevin's a bit matter of fact. We probably have to kill him. He's not part of the military. I didn't know if she was still a military secret. Well, I don't plan on releasing this man into the general population of the city. I don't trust him at all. He hasn't done anything to prove that he wants to be a part of things here. And until he does, I wouldn't feel right about him walking around the public.

Okay. Let me go back down and talk to him again and see if he is... what he can do to help prove besides providing what military information he already has. He doesn't have exact numbers. I get the impression they're not keeping count over on the other side. That his group is just rallying the troops, right? That seems a bit reckless. Sir, to be honest, they're not a military. They're a group of people who are trying to get others to join their cause. So they're just waving the flag, saying, "Hey, join us. We'll help you fight the other bad people," as they're calling us.

The way I see it is quite simple. The man's a cleric. You've just lost a teammate. I need you at your full operating strength. I have a feeling that the captain's going to be needing you in the weeks and months to come. Get him to resurrect Fee. Alright. We'll go down and talk to him, sir. Alright. And salute and turn and leave. Yes, sir. He's just kind of dismisses it. Would it be okay if Jodzia stuck behind for a second? Sure. Alright. So she's just going to nod to everyone else to leave and she's just going to hang back with her father. Give her a smile. And he kind of looks up from his paperwork and notices that she didn't leave the room.

Is there something you need? Sir, I'm sorry if I've come at a bad time. Do you have a moment? Sure. What is it? I was wondering if you had a chance to get any more information out of the scion. We haven't interrogated her further since Oona did yesterday. Our plans are to take that back up this evening, actually. I see. It occurred to me afterwards, if she travels with the White Ravens, maybe she knows something about my... and then she kind of pauses for a second like she's not sure what to say and then goes, "Where Laren is, sir." I can have someone look into it, if you'd like.

Thank you, sir. And she's just going to salute and turn away. He salutes back and goes right back to his paperwork. Alright. Okay, and then she's going to go meet up with the rest of them with Rajahual. Alright. For this one, folks, I'd like the entire party to come in. Just let me speak with him first, but I'd like to see him... I'd like to have him put a face to the entire group that we have here, okay? Rodswell, I'd like to introduce you to the rest of my group. This is the rest of the party that we have traveled with, and I'd introduce everybody then.

Everybody to Rodswell. We have an issue, Rodswell. We, as I mentioned before, we have recently lost a member of our party. It happened early yesterday. It was fairly recent. You being a cleric, we would like to ask for you to give us a good faith gesture, and can you bring back our fallen comrade? A good faith gesture. I just gave you a ton of information about people that are fairly close to me. I basically could have sentenced two of my best friends to death, and you're asking for a good faith gesture? That's going to hurt me. That's going to hurt you. I understand that, but our commander has stated that you can't be released into the general public until he's comfortable with it, and he has said that he needs our group at full strength.

And the only way we can be at full strength is for someone to resurrect Fi, the man who fell. I brought the rest of the party in here so you could look them in the face if you say no, because they are then going to know that you are refusing to help, and it's going to be something we all have to live with. We've already lost him once. It's kind of starting to sound like a threat. I'm not threatening you. I'm sorry to put you in this position, but we have been placed in it as well. Our commander is telling us that this is what has to happen for you to be given any freedoms right now.

I'm trying to help. I said I would do my best to get you as comfortable in the city as I can, and I can't do anything to help you that way without bringing our fallen teammate back. So I'm going to take a knee before Rodswell. If I have a helmet on, I'll take it off. And I'll say, "We just lost one of our best friends. We had to go to his mother not 24 hours ago and tell her that her son had died." If you've ever lost anyone like that, you should know how painful it is. The one thing that we can do for this woman and for us is to bring him back. He was invaluable.

He was a wonderful person, and it's going to be very difficult for anyone to go on without him. How did your friend die? He was crushed by a blast of pure energy. Rodswell lifts an eyebrow, so he must have been finding something very powerful. More powerful than we had the right to be in combat with, and we didn't realize it until it happened. How old? He was 35. He looks super young though. He was beautiful. He was gorgeous. He couldn't have been a day over 20. Can you help us, Rodswell? Do you have any idea how much this is going to hurt me? No, I don't. Can you go ahead and expound?

I don't know. I've never done it. I've only heard stories. Can I do a check for that to see if I know? Do a religion check. Alrighty. 17? Okay. So, it's very common to have clerics that do minor healing stuff. You know, arrow wounds or sickness, that kind of thing. To bring back someone from the dead is a huge deal. This drains someone body, mind, and soul. It causes them physical pain. It's way deeper than just being stabbed or shot with an arrow or something like that. This hurts your soul. This is so deep down and ingrained that this... I mean, it completely drains the person doing it for days.

And some people are never the same after they've done it. So, everything has a price, and bringing back someone from the dead is a pretty damn high price to pay. The longer someone's been dead, the more chance they're going to come back screwed up in some fashion. 24 hours is not a very long time. But, pretty much after that 24 hour mark, you're cresting over the hill of something bad could happen if you bring them back. So, clock's kind of ticking. Should we bring in Fi's mother? I think it'd be funny to have him talk to the mother, so yes. Okay, I'll just break his soul.

Would you like to go find the woman who can convince him? Alright, so I will go and try to get Fi's mom. We have someone who we'd like you to talk to, Rod's mom. Oh, I don't have anywhere to go, really. You can choose to not talk to anybody. You're not a captive. I'll talk to anybody you want me to talk to. I appreciate it. Let's step outside, maybe until the mom gets here. Yeah, this would take a few minutes. Now, how much are you telling her as you bring her here? Tell her that we have the man who can bring her son back from the dead. Okay. While you guys are doing that, I'd like to talk to Rod's mom for a moment.

Alone, while you guys, could you guys step out and give us a moment? Alright. Totally. Please. Rod's mom, I understand what this is going to do to you. I've read the books, I have researched this. This is the path I have chosen as well. And if I could do it, I would. But would you have given this attempt to save your son? Absolutely. Can you imagine then what his mother is going through? And what we had to tell her? That the only son she had in the area, the only one who was her pride and joy, died and we had the chance to bring him back and couldn't? I can imagine that, yes.

I understand what you're asking me to do and I hope that you understand what you're asking me to do. I do. As I said, I understand the process of what it is going to be. I don't know what it is, what it will do. I'm not skilled enough yet. I hope to eventually one day be skilled enough that I could do that for one of my teammates if needed. But I understand it's going to be very rough on you and I will do whatever I can and give whatever aid I can to help. I don't know the history, I know what that orb is, but could it help in any way as well? That orb is not going to help me.

That thing is making this ten times worse. Because the entire time that I sit here, I'm being told that I need to... don't worry about it right now. Anyway... At the same time, you have to understand that you're asking me to resurrect somebody I don't know. I don't know who this person was. They were good. You've been sitting here drilling me, asking me what I've been doing and who I've been with. I don't know a thing about you. You tell me, I just take orders. That's all I've heard from you. I don't know what you've done. I don't know who you've killed. To be honest, we have not killed anyone.

Fought some bugs, we have gone on recon-missing, but we haven't attacked and killed anyone yet. Roll a bluff check please. Just some draw babies. Technically that's true, but... Not true. Not. That seems about right. Rodswell, that smacks of a lie. That's totally not, at the very least, not the whole truth. When Rodswell leans forward, look, when we get on the battlefield, we all have to do things that we don't like. There's no such thing as one side being good and one side being able. You just have to pick the side that you agree with more. I can agree with that.

Or the side that doesn't make you do things that you don't agree with. And that was my problem with them. Completely understandable. I completely agree with that. I have chosen a pacifist nature. I will not kill somebody unless my life or my teammates life is on the line for it. And even at that, I struggle with that for days, weeks afterwards. It bothers me. It's not something I ever want to do. So what do I get out of this? You get not only our trust. I've already given you my word that I will do whatever I can to make you comfortable in here. I believe you are telling the truth.

I do not believe that you are doing anything underhanded here. I honestly believe what you are saying is what you believe. What do you want out of this besides a fresh start in our town? That's all I want. I have no problem doing what you are asking me to do. I know it's going to hurt me. And I know it's going to take a lot out of me. But if that's what you need, I'll do it. I don't need his mom to come in and beg for her son's life. If she wants to come in and we can talk, I have no problem with that. But I don't want to sit here and have to listen to someone beg for their son's life.

I have no problem helping you. But I do... I would like to speak to whoever is above you at this point. Because everything you've been telling me right now is that you're low man on the totem pole. And no disrespect, but I have information that is going to be much more important to people higher up. Okay. No disrespect taken. That is completely understandable. I will discuss with my commander immediately the ability and the actions that may lead to you never running into Carter if possible. How is that? I don't mind running into Carter. I just don't want...

I don't know what Carter is going to do. He's going to know that I'm here. Possibly. Let me go talk to the commander. How is that? That's fine. Bring him here. We can all talk. Let's do it that way. I will ask him to come down and speak with you. How is that? That sounds good. Thank you very much, Rotswell. I really do appreciate this. And again, if I can do anything personally to help you out, please let me know. I will do what I can to make sure that you are not killed. I don't quite have the guts that some of our others do. But as a pacifist, I do not believe you should die for this.

I don't believe you should die for your past. You have changed. You bring him here, you'll be doing everything you can do. Thank you. And with that, I will step out of the room. Alright, Una. I'm going to need your help here. He wants to speak with the commander directly. He says he has information that he can pass along that's even more important than what we've given him so far. And as of right now, he has agreed to resurrect Fi. So you may need to step in and talk to our commander. You seem to have a better... Let's just say working relationship with him than I do right now.

Okay, let's go. Let's have a better way of words. How's that? Okay, come on. Alright. So again, back to Commander Grace's office. Yep. Commander Grace? Yes. The cleric wishes to speak with you directly. He says that he has information that is valuable. And since we are too low on the totem pole, that it's more valuable to you than to us. Mouty fuck. He's listening and then he cocks an eyebrow at the end of your sentence. I have no problem speaking with him. Is that the only reason he wouldn't give you any information if you tried other means of communication? Or has Una spoken with him directly?

No, sir, I would prefer she didn't. He is a man of the cloth. He has also agreed to bring back fee at a great personal cost to himself. Ah. So I would prefer him not abused and potentially changing his mind of that. I'm diplomatic. Sometimes that requires my fist, sometimes it doesn't. Come on. Correct, but we need him right now more than we needed the other. That you spoke to. Very well. Let's go speak to him. And he just kind of breaks into stride, clears the room, walks down the hallway. Um. Let the man walk. Oh wait, I'm not there. Una? Una? Yes. And when Fi's mom and the others show up, inform them that he has agreed to resurrect Fi and that she doesn't need to go down there and face him, he would prefer it not to happen that way.

She might want to thank him. If she wanted to thank him, that would be one thing. But she doesn't need to be... We don't need to put her through the whole ordeal until it's done. Okay, I'll stay. Give that priest a smack for me. I will head downstairs with the commander. Um. So this commander's got a real stride about him. Just walks down the hallway, kind of flicks open the door. Rodswell. I nod. I'm Commander Grace and he sticks his hand out. I shook his hand. I hear that you have some information for me personally. Yes sir. He kind of gives you the "I'm listening" face.

Uh, here's the deal. As far as I am to understand, Carter's not in the vicinity, correct? He's out of the city on diplomatic business. I have no problem helping you. I have met the people that are under you and they've proven to me that at least there's some good over here. At least from what I've spoken to them, I believe that there is some good here. They may not be the most honest. Is Marcus in the room? Yes. And I glare over at Marcus. But I feel that they have good hearts. My problem is that I'm about to give more of myself than I've ever given before.

I'm about to put myself through more pain than I've ever endured. And I have received no guarantee of my safety once Carter arrives or my place in town or what I'm going to be doing if I'm accepted here. All I've been told is that they need more information. Well, I won't lie to you. You're incredibly useful right now as a source of information. You know things that we couldn't possibly know. And if we're going to be fighting this army you've helped build, it would be extremely beneficial to us to have all of that information. Quite frankly, you're worth much more alive to us than dead.

If that gives you some comfort... It gives me a little bit of comfort, but I believe that the issues Carter may have with me, whether they're right or not, he may see them as being personal. I mean, I saved him from an attack from a vampire, but he didn't seem to see it that way. I just don't know how he's going to react and it's going to be hard for me to give up anymore because the information is kind of all I have right now. So to sit here and dump all my info out to you when it's all I have, possibly keeping me alive, you have to understand it's hard for me to do that.

I absolutely understand. Here's what I can tell you. There is very little that goes on in this city that His Highness would not know about. He will find out that you've returned and he will want to speak to you. That's fine. I just don't want him to come into town and then me be sent to death. Again, I understand your apprehension. That being said, he looks to me for guidance on matters like this. I can definitely recommend that you be given a position in the city, something where you're... You're a man of faith and that's held aloft in the city. That's a position of great reverence.

I can recommend that you be given a position that reflects your years of training. I don't want to fight. I'm not saying that you would be fighting. I understand. I just want to make it clear that I don't want to fight. I want that part of my life to be behind me at this point. Sir, if I may, our city has a rather large research library. If he needs any information to research, he could find it there and he has questions about some of the things he has acquired. Maybe he can find more information there. Let him help our research division. And he kind of cocks his head back towards Routswell.

Would that be acceptable for you? In the meantime, I suppose. I wouldn't mind taking a little bit of a break, although I do think that I may be of more service down the road. We can re-discuss later. As long as you're promising me my safety, that's all I want. I can personally guarantee that no harm will come to you if you perform the task that's asked of you today. Then what if I give you some good information as a good faith gesture? That would be very appreciated. Look towards the dwarves. That may or may not be where they're going next. Of Stonesunder?

Correct. And I'm guessing they look to parley with the dwarves. They're investigating the possibility. They haven't decided one way or another whether they're for sure going with it, but at least when I left them they were investigating the possibility. If we send a detachment to investigate this and come up empty handed, or if... it will take days to get there, do you have any information about where they would go next? They were talking about... the disagreement was whether or not to side with the dwarves or the orcs. And they were investigating which side they agreed with more, or which side would be more useful to them depending on who you ask.

He kind of cocks an eyebrow after you said deciding between dwarves or orcs. I can't see the orcs participating in an army. It was discussed. I've given you the information. That's all. Like I said, they were just investigating the possibility. There was nothing set in stone. Understood. I appreciate this greatly. I'll have Fisbodie prepped right away and you can get to your task. Afterwards, I can have you set up in a house. If that's to your liking? Well, after I do what I'm going to do, I'll probably need to receive some kind of care. I might want to spend a few days in some sort of facility, but after that, I would love to find a home here.

Alright, I'll have it arranged right away. And he is going to just turn and stride right back out the door. Now, Fisbodie wasn't buried yet, so his body is pretty much just kind of set aside. There was going to be a full military funeral, but that takes more than a day. In a separate holding cell, they have Fisbodie laid up on a wooden table and he's just kind of prepped there. He's ready to go. Is there anything anyone would like to do before we do this resurrection thing? No, I was going to say, before I left the room and left Rodswell, I would say to him again, "Thank you for what you are doing and I believe you are making the right decisions.

Again, if you need anything, please ask. I will do what I can to help." I kind of give a half smile and nod before going down and starting to pray again. And I'll leave him to his prayers. So, yeah, question. Do we want to have Mrs. Fee's mom see him before or after the ordeal? I think it would be better before because he's likely going to be sacked out or gone insane or whatever may happen from him. I think before is a good idea. But he needs time to prepare and I don't want to interrupt anything that would cause the extra time afterwards. She can thank him afterwards if all goes well.

Should we ask her if she wants to be present? Did you guys tell her that we're going to resurrect him? Or did you tell her that there was potential for it or that we may have good news? The way I understand it was that Jadzia would have told her that there's someone that can do it but need convincing and when she got there, Una would have pulled them both aside and said, "No, no, no. He's going to do it." Yeah, exactly. And maybe it would be a good idea to have her there so that, obviously, Rod's Will doesn't really want to, he's kind of being forced to do it.

If he sees someone who isn't in the army, who's related to this guy and just wants him alive, maybe it'll help lift his spirits a little bit. I would ask her if she wants to see it because she might not. It might be really creepy. Especially if he comes back less than her. That's my concern. If something happens and something goes wrong, do we want her there to see it happen again? I'll just stand over him with the war hammer in case. I don't think that's going to help, but... Well, I mean, if he comes back as some sex-nuts-retard-strong flipper baby, then yeah, you're going to have to put him down.

Oh, I thought she was going to stand over Rod's Will waiting for him to resurrect him. I'm like, "That's not going to help much, I don't think. It's not a pressure situation." I'm still... I'm really nervous before he resurrects someone. Great idea. I'm still at the mindset that she should say, you know, "Thank you" prior to this because we're not sure how long it's going to take him to recover. If he'll recover. Perhaps... might I interject? Yeah, I was going to say, as I'm going to it, maybe have her waiting there for me. So let's do this. So, outside this hallway, there are guards posted.

This is a big pregame warm-up. This is like a boxer getting ready to go to the ring. This is big. It takes a tremendous amount of concentration and preparation. And, basically, you've got to prep yourself. That's like, "I'm going to hit... okay, put your hand down on the table. I'm going to hit it with this hammer. Just tell me when you're ready." That kind of thing. You're just like, "Oh, God, this is going to be terrible. I don't want this." Like Evil Knievel riding around. Right. I mean, you've got to prep yourself. So, I would imagine Rod's Will kind of gets his head together for a while and he's praying.

And then, basically, there's a knock on the door. It's like, "Okay, it's time. Clock's ticking. We've got to do this." So, Rod's Will would stand up and enter the hallway and it's just packed with guards and... It's kind of a spectacle. It's kind of a thing. It's like, "Oh, my God, I want to see this." Even Commander Graves is in the hallway, just kind of waiting on the opposite end. Now, is there any of the general public there or is this just... No. God, no. This is a military installation. No one's allowed in here that isn't... I mean, well, with the exception of Fi's mom, Flo.

That's the only person. She would see Rod's Will kind of come out into the hallway and... She would break away from these guards and just wrap her arms around you. Just like tears streaming down her face. Just, "Thank you. Thank you." I mean, she's beside herself. Can I pull her aside and talk to her for a second? It's in the hallway with all these people. I'm not asking any secrets. I just want to be a little... Right. Right, right, right. How long has your son been dead? He died yesterday. They just told me about it. I thought he was gone forever. Thank you. Thank you.

I just want to let you know, before I do this, because I have a feeling that the military is asking me to do this for their gain and their enhancement. And your son's friends, while having the best intentions, may not have the same wisdom and knowledge that we do. So, my question to you is, do you understand that your son might not come back the way you remembered him? She kind of pauses at that. There's a look that comes over her face. That is kind of a cross between reflection and then pure delusion. I'm sure he'll be just like he was. He hasn't been gone for more than a day.

You can do this. I'm sure you can do this. I'm not saying that he's not going to come back the way he was, but I do want you to understand there is risk involved here. If you want me to do this, you're the person who's going to tell me to do this. I understand. Just please bring him back. Rodswell nods and gives her a bit of a hug and then continues down the hallway. So, at that point, she wants to follow and pursue into the room and the guards kind of... they just kind of hold her back. It's like, "I think you should stay here." Rodswell crosses the threshold of this room and sees the beaten, battered, and broken body of Fi just lying on this table.

Someone pulverized every bone in his body with a sledgehammer. -Lore question. -Yes. Would Rodswell recognize this damage as being done by a scion? He would definitely recognize that this isn't like a bear maldim or something. This is tremendous. This isn't like... So he could have fallen off a cliff or... If he fell off a cliff, he'd likely be in different pieces or he would have fallen onto something. This is weird because the skin isn't broken for the most part. There are a couple of bones protruding, but this is... Like he was flash fried without being fried.

This was like, boom, and you're done. This is huge. Something big did this to him. This is pretty. And while you fought with Breanna and saw her do this to Warforged, it's a little different with them because they kind of come to pieces a little easier. -Okay. -This is... Yeah, so... Yeah, this is definitely not standard. Okay. So, but I don't... I just wanted to make sure that I didn't recognize this as being done by a scion because that would be a giveaway, so... Now, the rest of the party has the option of being in the room while he does that. -Oh, hell yeah.

-Yeah, let's be in the room. -Yeah. -I said I would be there for him. If he needed it, I would be there. -All right. -Jason. First off, how long is this going to take? Like the actual resurrection process in real time? -This would only take a couple of minutes. -Okay. Also, we discussed the change in shape-shifting is like a muscle that you flex and you control. -Yes. -Is there... Is there a liability for that muscle to spasm? -Dude... -It's... There's a chance that can happen. Here's the thing. Changelings mostly look like humans. The muscle flex control thing is just if they want to appear differently than human.

-They're not human, per se. -Yeah. So they just happen to look... They happen to resemble humans, for the most part. They are a completely different race. But there is... I mean, there's a chance... So for Fi, no time has passed. And if the resurrection is successful, he is going to basically... Okay, from the time that Brianna set off the blast, everything went off for him. So he'll still be of the mindset this blast is going to hit him when he wakes up. -Oh, baby. This makes us shrieking. -So the first thing that's going to happen to Fi is basically if the resurrection is successful, he is going to draw the deepest breath anyone's ever drawn, and then probably scream his fucking head off.

Oh, I don't think I have to tell anybody here, please don't scream into your mic. Like, that shouldn't be a thing I have to tell anybody, but I'm just... -Aaaah! -In case. Any other questions for me? Go for it. -Other than can we be front row center, like, as close as we can for the ritual? -Yeah, this isn't a huge room, so this is the kind of thing where you're surrounding the body, and yeah, it's basically Rodswell and Fi, obviously, and then the party. And then you've got a lot of onlookers outside the door. Alright, so, Rodswell, he would approach the body, and kind of place his hands on his chest, and just kind of trail off, just kind of go into this deep concentration type of thing.

This is the part where we actually get to discuss what the new rules for resurrection are, that we came up with for a long time ago. This was a... Jesus, when was this argument, Dan? -This argument was about... well, group two was already around. -Yeah. So it was about a year ago. -It was right after group two came on. -Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so yeah. So, after a few moments there's this brilliant white glow that starts to kind of radiate through Fi's body, and it gets to the point that it's hard to look at. It's that bright. So here's what happens to Rodswell for casting this.

First of all, this is a daily. This is something he can't do more than once a day. It's going to do damage to him. A large amount of damage, actually. You're a level ten right now, Rodswell. Go ahead and roll ten d6, please. -I can't. You told me not to open the table. -Oh, that's right. Shit. I'll roll it for you. You can take me at my word. -Yeah, five witnesses. -Yeah. -True. And yet another reason why the healer is standing by. -So that's 41 damage to Rodswell. -Ouch. -Yeah, this is something that causes intense pain. So that's just going to kind of arc through him.

That's going to shoot through him. After which... And his hit points are going to be halved. That's going to knock Rodswell out after this. That's done. And his hit points will be halved for three days. Yeah, the penalty for this is severe. This is not to be done lightly. He's also going to be weakened for the same duration. For three days he will only do half damage. -Jason, just out of curiosity, that means he's effectively in a state of bloodied if we did it for combat things? -Right. If this were... Yeah. -And above that, for those three days, he's basically perma-bloodied until that happened?

-Yes. -Okay, thank you. -Exactly. So after three days, though, he'll return to normal as long as he's getting rest and everything. He'll be fine. He'll regain everything. -Fie. -Yep. -The rules for this are that character comes back in the exact same state that they died in. So, again, for Fie, no time has passed. He would have no idea what's going on. And for him, it's just... boom. Everything flicks back on like a light switch. His heart's beating. He draws a big breath of air. And he thinks he's about to get hit by this massive blast of pure energy. So, as of now, Fie is alive and wakes up.

-Yay! Congrats. Somebody grab him. Grab him. Hold him. -I'll grab him. -Una, Gavin. That's how I figure we're strong. -I like how everyone's jumping over Rod Swells' corpse to... -No. That's why I had them grab them. I will help you out. -Thank you. -So, as of now, they don't know anything... I mean, the painful expression on Rod Swells' face. And then I imagine there's a grunt or scream or something. And then Rod Swells, after this light kind of fades and Fie's up, Rod Swells is just going to fall backward. Like, just done. -Quick question. -Okay. -During the battle with Bree, can we remember who was closest to Bree when that blast went off that wasn't me?

-Was it Una? -I think it was Connell. -Una was right next door. -Okay. When I come back, I'm going to take a deep breath in and just scream "Fuuuuuck!" and then go "Una!" -Okay. Just wrap arms around Fie. -It's okay. We're here, man. -Is this a thing where Fie's balking all over the table, just trying to scramble to his feet? -I just want to make sure he doesn't try and reflexively jump back, move, and stumble and fall and hurt himself. -It'd be terrible if he cracked his head and died again right now. -Fie is trying to just curl into a ball, just make himself as small as possible.

-Okay, while he's doing that, can I check on Rodswell? -Sure. You sure can. -I gotta try and help him out. -Am I unconscious? -Oh yeah, you'd definitely be unconscious. Oh yeah, you would definitely be out. -Yeah, this is the kind of thing that could kill someone. This is a huge deal. -I mean, the best thing--like, he definitely has a pulse, you could tell that he's alive. -The best thing you could do for him is just kind of heal him and then try and get him somewhere where he'd rest. -Alright. Definitely gonna pop at least the one healing word on him. -Right.

Okay. -Bring him up as best I can. -This is...like, this is a get out of jail free card. This is amazing. This is almost a miracle. -Except that just a regular person did it. If you guys want to chat or something beforehand, I mean, we can do that. -Yeah, how about you guys kind of slowly explain what happened to Fee and maybe let Fee's mom come up and say hi. -She needs to know that he's actually alive. -Yeah. Like, make sure that he's not, like, insane. Just kind of like, "It's okay, Fee. We've got you, like, it's okay." -I wanna look around and go, "Where am I?

Where's the girl? What's happened?" -You died in a blast, Fee. -I what? No, it's gonna be hard to comprehend, but it's true. The explosion, it terminated you and we had to seek miraculous power to return you to us. -Would you like to see your mother? -Yeah, yeah, yeah, please. That'd be good. -Is this Fee's mom? -The guards kind of, like, waver over her. She's trying to get into the door anyway. Like, this isn't, you know... -Start noticing her, like, "Let her through!" You know, just like, "Grrr!" -Yeah, she's just gonna bolt through this door and just bomb-rush Fee, who... just wrap her arms around... like, right around the neck.

Just like cradling his head. Just right there. Just smothering him almost. -He's getting such a nice double-hug. -As soon as Flo gets to me, I just openly start balling and just go, "I'm sorry, Mom! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" -Yeah, she's just completely crying, too. She's like, "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay." Like, she's just trying to soothe you. Just, it's... yeah. -Okay, while they're doing that, I'm going to grab a couple of soldiers and we're going to carry Rodswell back to wherever he would... we had arranged for him to be staying so that he can rest and make sure that there are people with him to take care of whatever he needs.

-Well, it would appear that Rodswell is now pretty much a member of the Overwatch. That he will be a member of this city. So, uh, Dan? -Hi. -Uh, firstly, thank you very much for hanging out. -No problem. -Thank you. -Thank you. -It was my pleasure. -I'm glad we didn't kill him. -I'm a war hero. -So, later tonight, during a live episode, you're going to take up the mantle of one of the most beloved characters in DNR history. -Yeah. -And you may have just... you may have just taken up the mantle of one of the most fucking hated and reviled characters in DNR history.

-Yeah, welcome to our side of the story. -It's pretty weird, right? -"Heavy is the head that wears the crown." -So, I mean, I don't know. Let's see where... we can't tell anybody about this until I post the episode, but yeah, I want to see what the... -Follow me @DuncanJoyBataam on Twitter. -Rodswell has one too, if you want to flick a... -Yes, @RodswellJoybottom, so... -I thought it was just Rod Joy Bottom. -It is Rod... yes, thank you, it is Rod Joy Bottom. -No problem. -Because I wanted to spell it right. -I know, I know. -Yeah. -Do you have your playlist ready for tonight?

-Oh, I got things up my sleeve, so... -Okay. -Don't worry. I'm going to go ground some meat then. -Thanks, Dan. Good talking to you again. -Bye. -Bye. -Bye. -Bye. -Bye. -Wow. -Yay! -This is going to throw the fans into a tizzy. -Yep. -Yep, I figured. -Your mailbag episode might be longer than any single episode ever recorded at this rate. -I'm totally cool with that, dude. I... we're getting... do you... the email's for Group 3 alone. I'm really glad we're having a couple of you guys on there, because it's fucking amazing, the turnout so far. Really, really is. -Quick aside, another mechanics question, just curious.

Did the cleric first drop in half and hit points and then take the attack, or versus? Because, yeah, theoretically that was a good potential to kill even a high-level cleric. -That's the thing. You take the damage first, then half. -Oh, okay. -Because if otherwise, yeah, that would be something almost no one would attempt, because... -Like double damage. -Right, exactly, yeah. So you take the damage, then you go half. And that's mostly because there's a chance of you doing it in combat. That's the only reason. -Mm-hmm. That makes sense. -Yeah. Yeah, I went... that's like the third draft of that.

That was one of those things I drafted, like, "Eh, that's not lethal enough." Then I came up with something that's like, "Well, that's just suicide." So no one would do that, so I kind of had to find a middle ground. I think that's just... it's more roleplay than the actual damage. The damage is almost for roleplay exclusively, because I can't really see anybody attempting the resurrection in the middle of combat. They would have to be pretty dire circumstances. -Yeah, that would be... I mean, you want to talk about your last gasp trying to pull your entire team's ass out of the fire by bringing somebody back.

-Yeah, that's major boss fight stuff, and that's... even then, it's... The only reason being brought back is just, boom, they're up. They're full hit points and everything. The only penalty that Fee is going to get is a -2 to all of his rolls for... yeah, it's shitty, but I mean, that's more or less reflecting him trying to adjust. It's like having a really bad hangover, that kind of thing. -Right. We pull Fee back from a whole room of birthday cake and Krispy Kreme Oreo cookies, and now he's got to come back to our life. Sorry. -You bastard! -No wonder he hates us now.

-That's more Buffy stuff. That's... -Would Rudsrow instinctively know from Reviving Mate that I wasn't human? -No, this isn't a mind-meld type of thing. -I didn't know if maybe it was just, yes, I brought him back, and yes, it's completely fucked me over, but... I didn't know if maybe he'd instinctively know that, well, hang on, that wasn't a human. I've never done this before, but... -Right, no. There's no... -They've done this before with a non-human. -Should you make a roll to see if something happens, or are we just... -Because it's been such a short duration, the chances would be incredibly minimal.

-I mean, he shows his changeliness. -Oh, that! What we could do for that, let me think, what scale would that most likely be tied to? -Bluff? -I would say bluff? -I would say endurance. -Oh, endurance is good. -Endurance. -Probably an endurance check. -Are we investing in our own destruction? -Well, I mean, it's an excellent roleplay question. -Yeah, it's true. -I mean, the entire changeling thing is about controlling. It's about, I mean, he's kind of mystique from the X-Men type of thing. Like, you can look like pretty much anything that's his size, but it's like a muscle-flexing control, it's like a willpower control type of thing.

But he was in a complete state of panic and shock and everything when he was resurrected, so... -Fee, go ahead and roll an endurance check for me. -Aikidoki. Is this with the -2 or not? -This would be -2, so you have a +1 to endurance, so that would be a -1. -Here's the thing. I'm not gonna make this a ridiculous check, because this, now if you really, like, let's say you roll a 1 or something like that, then this would be a thing where your body would completely freak out and just kind of, like, you'd have an orc's head or something like that for just a split second.

This is kind of a, yeah, like a muscle-twitching thing that you can't quite control. -Would we roll, like, a perception to see if we notice if he flickers? -It depends on how high the, yeah, go ahead, first let's roll the check and then we'll see what we're doing. -Okay, endurance. -Oh god. -Of course you mentioned that. Thanks, Jason. -Hey, I... -A -1. -Oh god. -It's a natural 1. -It's an -1. -It's an -1. -Okay, let's hear mine. -Wow. -So, his mom just hugging him intensely. So that's blocking the guards behind, behind her. -Right. -His friends, however, surrounding him.

Go ahead and roll a perception check, please. -Okay. -So Jadzia, Marcus, Una... -20 crit. -Yes. -18. -And Gavin, okay. -Gavin coming up. 10. -Okay. Everybody but Gavin is going to notice that Fi's ears are sharpening, almost like an elves. And this is like a split second, like, they go long and jagged for just a second, just like, whoop. And Fi almost, it almost appears as though he's kind of like reflexively recoiling at it, like just like a muscle twitch that you can't quite control. And his hair for just a second is going to go silvery. And then, boom, right back to normal.

-Okay. -That's extremely odd. -Can I make a bluff check real quick? -Sure. Go ahead. -I have something I want to try. Let's see if this will work. Okay, probably not so well, but I'd like to point out to everybody that the resurrection spell is extremely powerful and it causes odd things to happen to a body when it's brought back. -So... -Is that a sort of passive insight or something like that? -Yeah, bluff check would be against passive insight. -Oh, okay. -That's going to fail utterly. -Yeah. I think against everybody. -Yeah, it was worth a try. -I totally get it.

-It would have beat out Gavin had he even noticed it to begin with. -Gavin is... -Whatever you say, man. -Sure. -That's how I roll. So yeah, Gavin didn't even notice. Gavin's not very astute when it comes to, like, I'm guessing it's more like the humane, like, noticing emotional tics or something like that. He's much more about the facts of the matter. -Who had the next highest insight? Or perception roll? -Jadzia. -Jadzia. -Yeah. -Can I pull Jadzia aside really quick? I'm just going to extract myself from V. -Sure. I'll hold V because, you know, V's very holdable.

-Coddle his butt. I'm just going to pull her aside and say, "What the fuck was that?" -Is there a check I can do to see if I can figure out that he's actually, like, the same check you would do when you're fighting a monster and want to know more about it? Which one would that be? -That would be... -Nature? -Nature or History? I mean, it's not... -History. -Do History. -You'd like that, wouldn't you? -I would like History. -Give me a... hmm... give me either/or, just because you can read about different races in books and, you know, nature would be more of... you have a connection to creatures and people.

-Got it. 13. That's not... -This would be... this would be a type of thing where, like, you've heard... like, "I've read something somewhere? I just... I can't quite place it." That kind of thing. -All right. That's what I'll tell her almost exactly, like, "I've read about this somewhere, but I can't remember." -I'll say anything, but I think we need to have a talk with him. -So, for now... this is just a fantastic thing. If he's back, he doesn't appear to be harmed in any way. He appears to have come back intact and fine. -Now, you guys had a mission to do.

-Yep. -Are you... do you want to head out and do that, or do you want to stay here a bit longer? -Let's let him rest and then let's head out, I think. -Yeah. -So, just kind of give Fee a couple hours, like, get his stuff together and then head on out? -Talk to his mom. -Yeah. -Yeah, we're gonna have to... -So he can convince her to go... that he's allowed to go out past the street lights being on? -He signed his name. He's kind of property of our watch, just like the rest of us. -So, let's say a couple of hours. -You look fine. Report for duty. Pardon. -Yeah. Before everybody leaves and lets me go and rest, I want to say, Gavin, I need to speak to you.

I need to talk to you at some point. -Of course, man. Anytime. My ears are yours. -Yeah. No, they're not. -Oh! That was not intentional. -But fitting in character. -Yeah. -Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to say, I need to speak to you in private. -Of course. -I'm gonna go check on Rodswell while you guys take care of that. -Okay. I don't know if maybe, like, Gavin follows me and flow home or just like to speak in private. -Yeah. -Okay, yeah. When we're back home, I'm resting up and I want to go, "Gavin, I don't know what I am. I'm not human." -He's like, "I was about ready to start briefing you on what happened between that span of time, less than a day of you being dead, and what's this?" -I want to go, "Did you not see it?

My ears, my hair. I'm not human. I don't know what I am." -When you were passed the explosion, you were completely unrecognizable. I don't know what you're saying. -When I was brought back, my ears changed. They grew pointy. I've done this before, but I can't always control it. I don't quite know how. I don't know how it's something I can do, but I can change how I look. -At the other time, I think you'd be ribbing me, but this, you're clearly, there is no deception here. I pride myself on being a logic and reasonable person. -This is, he's like, kind of pauses for a moment.

"This must seem like I'm giving you some sort of hesitation or that there's any sort of disloyalty. Do not take it as that. As you've seen, no matter, I..." -It seems to be searching for the words. I, clears this. Alright, alright. You've done so much in the service of all this and beyond that. You've been a trusted friend. -Things have happened that have been unsavory, but we've been called upon to do unsavory things and we can, you know, gloss it for the mission or we can state it as a likely, a very reasonable dislike for another race for, you know, the harm that they've caused you.

-And I'm sure that's making it light, but what I'm trying to say is no matter what you are, kind of like, lets it hang for a few moments. I, you'll always be a great friend and an amazing combatant. -I don't know, I've not exactly had a lot of friends growing up and anyway I can count on to, I can give a nod and without hesitation, they would end something, you know. I, he just sort of like, kind of reaches out. I need a moment, can I have a hug? -Yeah, yeah, he leans over and gives the hug back. -You'll always be a friend to me, a very good friend and I'm not sure what you're experiencing there, but let's, let's, you know, thank you for telling me this.

Let's figure this out together. -If anything, he just sort of straightens up and you kind of get that whole like logic gloss over. If anything, any sort of advantage we can have out in the field, let's utilize it as it stands. -I figured out mathematics and majoring, I'm sure that's going to be considered perhaps heretical or even, you know, disturbing to people of arcane backgrounds. They, you know, I may be in a very same boat as being burned at the stake. -But, no, in all seriousness, go ahead. -Okay, well, I think I should show you this to, so you can fully understand and I fully sit up, I take a deep breath in, I close my eyes and I change my ears again and my hair as well.

-Wow, I... -Are you on the street? -No, no, no, we're in the house. -Yeah, in my house. -Okay. -Oh, I thought he was referencing like the car that drove by. -We're in his room holding hands. -Oh, you can become Alvin? That's interesting. I understand there's metamorphosis incantations, but hmm, I guess he's kind of leaving up the limitation kind of thing. -I want to look at him and go, I don't know if this is the only thing that I can do. I haven't had a chance to experiment with it. I haven't had enough privacy to be able to experiment with this. -You understand that this isn't something that should be revealed lightly within Overwatch.

I mean, if this gets out that I'm not human, you know, and you understand that I'm absolutely loyal to Overwatch and I would do anything. This is why I joined the military. -But, yeah, I mean... -As horrible as it sounds, you'd likely be put to death immediately again and I don't want to lose you again. And nobody does, sweetie. Oh, it was hard enough telling your mother once. There's no way I want to... -Oh, your mother. You kind of weep. During Hollow, we obviously, as you can imagine, yeah, just a quick fill in. After you fell, we were able to have the person, Brianna, as I understand her name, she holds some sort of position within the White Ravens fairly high at Imagine because of the immense amount of power.

-You... Let's see. Yes, she was interrogated. Imagine, Nuda, can reveal more to you about that as much as she's comfortable. It was... Let's see. She did well, but eventually we were advised that Malchus, yes, Malchus the tiefling is back and then for the support, the person who brought you back from the dead was one of his crew. A Rodswell Joy Bataan. As I understand, fairly good man, but obviously very trepidatious about giving up too much information. I think he wants a couple of bargaining chips for himself so that he's not killed outright when Carter comes back because he apparently has been gone with his friends for 17 years in some sort of...

I want to say some sort of temporal anomaly, but perhaps there's more to it than that, but obviously there are strange things beyond our control, hence you sitting before me right now brought back from, you know, utter... You kind of pause for a moment again, like he keeps adding tangents. What was it like? Can you remember anything from, you know, from being gone? Well, the last thing that I remember was just the girl, Brianna, did you say her name was? Yes, Brianna. The last thing that I remember was just some form of energy just radiating from her and just the next thing that I knew was just you and Rodswell and everyone else standing above me.

Yeah, it was literally from in the field to in that room. There was no time between. Like blinking then? Yes. That's interesting. I don't know. It's a thought for another time, but perhaps... Never mind. I'm just glad that you're back with us and back alive. And honestly, there's nobody who can do what you can do. You've done so much for us now and clearly we need more assistance. And as I understand this, during Hollow, we're going to that town, the Malkus and company have left their mark on there. So there will be more evidence to, you know, to him saying it to Brianna's, you know, advisory that her boyfriend, who is apparently Malkus, is going to come for us.

I can only imagine. I hope there's not too many spies around that are going to start advising that we have this white raven prisoner. Anyway, my thoughts are a bit mottled. I'm still just very, very glad. Are you OK? I mean, no pain. Your wounds appear to be completely healed. Yeah, I'm a little bit sore, but apart from that, I feel absolutely fine. OK. Yeah. My thought is give you a couple hours and hopefully it doesn't have to come to hard news, but clearly you're going to need to pick up your gear and go right back. I know you're a brave man. You're not one to rush away from your duty and from your loyalty.

You're great and mighty loyalty that no one should ever question. But we're going to have to go back to Durnhalle, so we know exactly what this situation is. I have no reason to doubt Rodswell, but a mighty force is coming for Overwatch and everything we've built over these years is fully threatened. Everything that we've tried to stem me is going to come back at us and we need to be ready. We need to build the walls higher and their forces stronger. Anything we can do to quell it, we will. We must. Yes, I will be in front of the walls defending Overwatch as best as I can.

There's no doubt in my mind. So, OK. Let's do this. Let's skip ahead. Yeah. Fee's gotten some rest. So you're ready to go. It's time for you to get back out on the road, get started. Now more than ever they want to know what's going on in Durnhalle. This is a big deal now. Now it's gone from, "Oh, what's going on over there? We've gotten a word that something's up now." Now they know the group has been there and they know that there's some connection to that town and Malkus. So is the group, let's say the group is at Fee's house. They're all just kind of... Home base.

Yeah, that's kind of become your... So Flo's just been baking. Just baking. Like full on Nest mode. There's plenty to drink, plenty to eat. She's kind of under the impression that he's home to be home. Like that's... like she's not under the impression he's leaving anywhere. At least for today. Who's gonna break the news to her? Gavin! Yeah, that's always up there in the forefront. No, a lead from the rear or from the ground as it were. That's how I roll. Okay, so... Flo? Can I call you that? I guess this is Fee's mom seems like a weird title. Yeah. Sure. You can call me Flo.

It's fine. Okay. You want some cookies? Thank you. Yes, please. Thank you. *laughter* So we're gonna take Fee and throw him killed again. Not too much. At least I'm not slobbering continuously. We're going so far. At least Gavin doesn't have those to do. Marcus, will you grip me? I think I caught something. You know, down there. Okay, seriously. Thank you. I'll save these other two for later. Thank you. Hey, um, look. You know, last time I spoke to you I pulled off my hat and I had nothing but terrible news for you. And the time before that we all came in and, you know, you got to see your poor son beat up and how much troubling that was.

Look, this isn't... Don't take this, my words, as any sort of, you know, harbinger of doom. We're now at a major situation. We found out that, well, not to put too much military secrets into the hands of, you know, our common folk. I don't want to wear upon your burden, but there is a force coming and we need to put a stop to it before it crashes over us and ends everything that we've worked so hard for and that so many have sacrificed. He's trying to say that we still have a job to do and Fi is still part of our group. He's got to come with us to Durn Hollow, but...

And there's clearly... There's nothing I could ever say to guarantee his safety 100%. But know that when I told you that if it could have been me yesterday, I mean that. I would give everything for any one of the people here. And Fi is especially close to me. It's not every day that you have a great friend and a great man give everything to make sure that we are safe. He was harmed greatly. He died. There is no, you know... I'm sorry. Again, I'm babbling. She's just kind of nodding her head the entire time you're speaking. Yeah, it's also kind of like, you know, I...

Well, pardon. Okay. No. No, he's not going back out. You're going to have to do it without him. There are thousands of soldiers there. He just came back. I mean, you can't give him a day, a week? I mean... No. Just no. Am I in a shot of this? Let's say yes. Come around the corner kind of thing. I want to go up, give my mum a hug and say, "Look, mum, I'm part of the military. I've got to do this. This isn't my job. And I can't sit here and just get better while I know that my team is out there." I mean, you know, I need to be out there with them and I can't not go out and protect Overwatch and make sure that you're safe.

I have to do this. She just kind of hangs her head a little bit and then leans in and gives Fie a really tight hug. And then she's going to break away and just start packing cookies in this sack. Travel days. Yeah, that seems to be her way of dealing with this. She's just going to pack, at the very least, pack a lunch. Something. Something you guys can eat on the way. She kind of has this all packed up and turns around. And then she looks at Gavin, "If anything happens to him, I'm holding you personally responsible." Gavin visibly swallows slowly like, "Holy crap.

Yes, ma'am." And then she kind of shoves the cookies into Gavin's chest, like just kind of like here. It's like as aggressive as someone can hand someone cookies. Just like here. And then she kisses Fie on the cheek. Can I take her aside for a second as we're leaving? Sure. So everyone's shuffling out the door and Una's kind of the last person out. I'm just going to put my hand on her shoulder and say, "I will protect him with my life. You won't have to suffer through that again." Famous last words. Flo's going to lean in and just give Una a big hug. And says, "Just watch out for him.

I really appreciate it. And try and help him with some weightlifting or something so he doesn't get hurt so easily again, okay?" I promise. And with that, the group is leaving the city and heading to Durnhollow. Alright, so without distraction, let's see, this would take... you guys are heading by cart. So you're looking at probably two days of solid travel. So by the time you get there, Fie will have had enough rest that he will recover from the weakened state. So all your dice rolls are going to return to normal. Yay! No repercussions! Straight back into it.

I was in the emotional strain. No repercussions. I'm dead inside. Just shush, shush. No repercussions. No comeuppance. Guys, I can't get a bush. There are potions for that, it's okay. The potions aren't working. *laughter* Got a cure on the health. Thank you, Marcus. Slash Vic. Yeah. Does anyone need a break before we start this part? Give me one minute to run downstairs and let my dog in. Sure. Yeah, and grab more Oreos. Fucking beast. So cute. See, the funny thing about that is my actual mom is just like, she builds, she, she, she, she, she, she bakes just like a shit ton of cakes.

I can roleplay Fie's mom all day. I don't know what it is about that. It's comforting. Just, just that real like house mom type of mom. Like, I don't know why. To be honest, this episode you guys are pretty much just trying to goad listeners into... Emotions. Yeah, you just goading them. We act all cute and fuzzy and then we're gonna kill everyone they love. Right. Meanwhile, there is still a very much tied up Brianna. Basically under the city of Overwatch, like in a dungeon. Like that's... You brought back Fie and everyone loves Fie. So it's okay. Alright, I'm back.

I've got so many goddamn texts and like fucking Facebook messages being like, "Oh my God, they brought back Fie!" It'd be great. Alina said, "Woo-hoo, group three, go show those kittens who's boss." That's all I heard was the, "Go show those kittens who's boss." I love out of context stuff. That was her big joke for the longest. It's like, "Oh, what are you gonna throw kittens at them?" That kind of thing. Because I'm coddling you too much. I'm like, "Not quite, not quite." Alright, you guys ready? Yeah. Welcome to Dern Hollow, the Alabama of Theria. Yee-haw!

I got an email about that finally. I was so proud. I knew we had at least one listener in Alabama. You know, it might have just been someone who felt sorry for you. They're like, "I'm gonna pretend to be from Alabama because he clearly wants some." I'll still take it. That's okay. Oh, you'll take it alright. You go to Alabama. Why the hell would I go to Alabama again? I have been to Alabama. It is very Alabama. It's an adjective, though. Of the amount of Alabama it could be, it is the most Alabama. I still like using "una" as an adjective. You got a verb, too.

And "dan" is another way of saying "loud." Yeah. That's killer. That's awesome. I had to mute myself when you posted that pic. Brea almost fucking died. That was pretty good. That was epic. That was beautiful. Making fun of Dan. You're officially Buona Vasa. Rolling into this tiny town, there's a little boy on the side of the road with this helmet that's two sizes big for his head. So it's kind of flopping over its face and he's constantly trying to straighten it. And at the same time look authoritative. The kid can't be older than 9 or 10. He's holding this tiny little spear type of thing.

Can I stop and say, "Do we need your permission to pass, sir?" First of all, he looks elated that you stopped. Like, "I made this happen." There's a little kid bravado. And he kind of looks over the wagon, "Nope, you're free to go!" And he just kind of waves you in. Thank you. And I'll bow a little bit. First checkpoint cleared. It appears as though all this kid wants is just like he's playing the... "Just recognize me, that's all. I'll allow it." And he lets you in. Beyond that, rolling into town you can see that someone really did a number on this place.

There is kind of this burnt out husk of what appears to be the town's center. Like it may have been a brothel or bar or something like that. But it's just riddled with fire damage. Just completely unusable for the most part. You also notice a lot of dirt pits, like circular pits. It looks like some sort of gladiatorial school or combat training facility. Something like that. And a lot of empty pens and cages. Where's Captain Arroway? There is a commotion when you enter the town. You guys are in full regalia. Like you are the Overwatch that's just rode into town.

That's a big deal. So people are... "What kind of a big deal?" So there's a lot of drunks and scattered layabouts around the street. And you can see them kind of like "Oh shit." And they just kind of stumble around the corner. Just like "Let's get off the street now." Just kind of like getting out of your way. And this really clean cut guy is kind of hanging out on the side of the street and seeing you ride into town. He full on walks right up to you. He is the only one in town that appears to be not avoiding you. How about go straight up to him? So you guys... you getting off the wagon or are you just kind of waiting to see if this is the guy you're looking for?

I'll go ahead and get off to start with. I'll stay in the driver's seat. Heh. Take it you're the members of the Overwatch who I'm supposed to be talking to? You are Captain Arroway, is that correct? Captain Ellis Arroway. And he holds out his hand for you to shake. Return the shake. Specialist Gavin Dearborn. This is the detachment from the Overwatch. If you wanted to speak to us regarding a matter... he kind of looks over at the burnout husk of a matter of some severe importance. Well that's quite severe for our town actually. We've never encountered anything like this before.

To be honest I never would have sent for you if we couldn't handle it ourselves. Group rolled into town three or four days ago and within an hour and a half of them arriving completely destroyed us. Hmm. Are you familiar with the new vault? History check. I don't know what we'll do right now. Let's give that a shot. History roll. Looks like seventeen. Seventeen. What you know about the new vault are they're a pretty skeevy slave trading ring. Pretty much do it for sport. But they'll sell to the highest bidder. They'll sell to places like Onakol or... There are people who own gladiatorial exhibitions or the Tournament of Champions or something like that.

They specialize in mules. Or mules however you'd like to say it. Which are half human half dwarf. But they'll pretty much capture anything if they can make them fight and make a penny off of them. So out of curiosity the lore check on that is are mules basically are those kind of like a forest breeding that those are? I would imagine. Well it's okay. It does happen naturally. There are dwarves who fall in love with humans or just have sex or whatever. That happens. But there is also... but there is also like... fuck! Like that's kind of like just two slave traders screaming at them.

There is some forest breeding. Yeah. You're taking the best attributes of the two races. You're taking the fortitude of a dwarf and the strength and everything. You're taking the basic height of a human and it doesn't always work out. I mean some mules just like you get a short fat fucking... well kill that one. But I mean the ones who come out with a nice blend of the two genes then they get to live. Yeah. So yeah. You know Nuval, a fairly unsavory group. They make mules as I understand. Mules? Well the group killed the leader of the Dernhalle wing of the Nuval sadly.

It was my understanding he died in the fire but his brother Jeb came riding through about two days ago. And through a bit of investigation found out his skull had been split. I was involved in the melee and I watched him get knocked clean out of the window by this girl. And I was just like, "I've never seen anything like it before." There was no way he died in the fire. And it should be noted that the same group that murdered Merle were responsible for setting the fire in the first place. Can you describe the members of the group? There was a pretty heavy mixture.

There was a tiefling, a minotaur of all people, and a warforged. I initially thought that the warforged belonged to you guys but he spoke and he seemed to have free will. On top of that there was a complaint from one of our members, Kaylee, who used to run Kay's Choice, that little shop across the street, any kind of points. She left town yesterday. She was terrified. Apparently the dragonborn and warforged robbed her after the fire was set and we can't figure out why. She didn't seem to have any agenda or hadn't crossed them in any sense that we could figure out.

Yeah, they definitely left a mark on our town. Our problem is that Jeb wants revenge and anything short of us bringing this group before him will result in him burning down the rest of our town. We've lost our source of income and we have no way of defending ourselves. And that is why I called you. To be honest, I never thought about joining up with the Overwatch but you're pretty much our only hope now. Anything you need from us, let me know and I'll do my best to help out. I think we should talk to Jeb. A little diplomacy? Well, the only issue with that, well, yeah, thank you very much Captain Arrow.

We'll speak to you in just a few moments. I need to confer with my group. Thank you very much. He kind of steps back. Salutum. And then, yeah, turn back to the group. What were you saying? We should talk to Jeb. The first thing we have to deal with is him not burning down the rest of the town. The second thing we need to deal with is getting these people with a roof over their head. Hmm, it's unlikely Brother Jeb there is going to be much of a reasonable person considering the immediate loss of his family member to violent means. We can deal with unreasonable people.

Very likely it's going to end in blood. That's okay. Hmm, yeah. I'm not one that's a huge fan of the idea of anybody being enslaved. Anybody else want to weigh in on this? Well, slavery at times is a necessary evil. There are uses for it and sometimes it's used as a way to pay back a debt. But they're also providing some of the groups that are needed for the Tournament of Champions. So should we find out whether he's going to continue this business? Let's also talk to the Innkeeper or to the Potions Lady and see what happened to her and see if we can maybe ease her a little bit.

Not necessarily, I'm sure we can't rebuild it, but maybe give her some direction of where she needs to go from here. She's got a few days head start though. Yeah, if she's taken off then I guess we can't catch her just yet. Maybe one of the working girls? Working girls would be a good place to start. Maybe start with one of them. Why don't you leave Jedzea and I to the girls? We both have connections. Okay, yeah, you go have your girl talk. How's that? Go have your slumber party and the rest of us will go talk to Jeb. How's that? No, actually we're only splitting to see in town though, so.

If things get violent with Jeb, I'd much rather have everybody there. Both Jedzea and Una are amazing at conflict resolution when things get violent. Okay, well do you want to just walk around town and talk to random people then? See if we can scrounge up any other information? I like that idea. And Fi if you can keep ear to the ground about anybody else, you understand you're pretty good with talking to less reputable types. I mean that in the nicest way of course. Fairly understood. Yeah, you keep an ear out, I'll go with Marcus and if any situations come up, we'll signal for the others and we'll group up immediately.

Just drop everything you got. The signal is blue. We have our own version of blue. Crimson. Crimson, I like it. Yeah, Crimson ain't gonna be just randomly yelled unless we got a psychopath. Some guy's being on the door like, "Crimson!" What's the problem? What's the problem? Wait, you're not part of our crew. So, okay, Jeb's not in town, but there is a spokesperson for the Nouval, like in the burnt out bar. Like he's pretty much just chilling, like just sitting there because the clock's kind of ticking on this deal. The deal was, bring the group that did this to Jeb, who is kind of outside of town, and he'll murder them and then we'll go from there.

If you don't do that, then I'm holding you personally responsible and I'll burn this whole fucking town down. That's the guy you're dealing with. That's tough, but fair. No. Well, you get family involved, man, and then, you know. Hatfield's in the boys. I mean, the Richards clan aren't exactly the most negotiable of people. They're pretty straightforward with what they want, and they'll pretty much kill whoever gets in their way. They're not used to having someone tell them no. So, who do you want to deal with first? Do you want to talk to the working girls, or do you want to talk to the fucking guy in the bar?

I think the guy in the bar is going to be our last statement. We'll gather the clues from out, around, and the people. Let's go ahead and take care of the girls first with our two girls, and then maybe do some passersby. The lesbian orgy. Just fishing for ratings now. It's the messiest on air kiss. Go ahead. So, these girls can't hang out in the brothel anymore. So, there's kind of a makeshift brothel? It's basically just a house. That's all it is. It's a regular-ass house. This brothel is five, six times the size of one of the regular houses. This burnout thing kind of stands out.

So, there's this tiny house, and there's basically a bunch of chicks just hanging outside of it. Because there's only like one bedroom in this place? So, the operation has been scaled back quite a bit. And hence, they're not making nearly the money that they were. So, yeah. So, I don't know how you'd like to approach these ladies. Okay. Let's wander up, look really nice, take off our helmets and our hoods, and say, "Hey, excuse me. Can we talk to you ladies?" One of the ladies steps forward, sure. Are we in some kind of trouble? We're trying to help you. We're from Overwatch, and we heard about the horrific destruction that happened to your establishment.

And we'd like to learn as much as we can about it and do whatever is necessary to assist you. You can rebuild our place? We can try. And there's kind of a look of relief among the ladies. It's like, "Oh, okay. Help is here. Someone's trying to do something. This isn't a permanent situation for them." What do you need me to do? We heard that the Marauders entered the Honest Harlot. Did you interact with any of them? Can you tell us anything about what they did, how the fight started? Just general information? Well, I got a good look at most of them. The one I was with was really nice, actually.

I didn't have any problem. From what the other girls were telling me, though, one of them ran downstairs and just threw a fireball into the room with no provocation. It seemed like he just wanted to burn the building down. Which one was this one? I didn't get his name. It was a Dragonborn. Hmm. I think we can assume Draconis. Which one were you? I know he wanted... Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, his name was Thoril. He was, again, a really nice guy. A human. I mean, I only do humans. But he treated me very nice. I really didn't have a problem with him. I'm honestly not sure he was involved with that group.

Were any of the other girls down there when the fight started? Hold on a second. Let me... And then she leads one of the other girls by the arm. Tell him about the Minotaur. Tell him what you told me. She looks a little less cooperative. She's afraid of getting in trouble. So he was gonna tell her, "It's okay. They're here to help." And this girl's kind of stammering just for a second. And this Minotaur just kind of wandered in. I mean, he didn't seem to want anything. It just seemed like he wanted to sit down for a while or something. And then Merle kind of wanted him to leave.

He kind of yelled at him. And then a fight broke out a little while later. And did they try and leave? Did you see the fight? Can you walk us through what happened? I saw some of it. Once it started, I kind of left. Especially once the fire started, I just ran. What I saw was Merle kind of strung up one of their crew, a cleric. And then there's just kind of chaos. They all just started fighting each other. They didn't seem to be any give in any of them. The big Minotaur, he got knocked out a window. And they had a warforged too. He seemed to get the worst of it.

They really laid into him. Oh, there was a girl! I've never seen anything before like it. She kind of shot some kind of light or something at Merle and knocked him clean out a window after the fire got set. That sounds like something we've encountered. Can you describe her? Um, kind of thin. Not many curves. Just kind of thin. Long dark hair. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty much it. Real small. Jadzia, do you have anything to ask? No, I think I'm good. Alrighty. Well, thank you so much for the information. We're going to try as hard as we can to keep this town safe and get it back on its feet.

If you ladies need anything, feel free to come to any member of our party. All of us just want to help you. They'll just kind of nod their heads yes. Do we have, like, how much money do I have? I have no idea. It should be in your character notes. Let me grab that then. Character info, details? Yep, details. Should be towards the bottom. Carried money, zero. That's not accurate. I'll have to update that. You should be floating around 30, 35 somewhere there. Okay, I'll give him like 15. Okay. Just to kind of split between them. That's pretty damn helpful. I mean, that's, I mean, for a town that has like nothing.

Like, their economy is shot. So, yeah, that's a really nice gesture and yeah, they're all extremely thankful for it. Do you want to cut to the bar with Marcus and... Gavin? Gavin, yeah. Yeah. Trying to remember how we split this party. Yeah. Alright then. We're going to be asking random peoples, avoiding that other, the representative for the moment. I'd rather we all come. Yeah, I think Jeb's out of town right now, but more than happy to come or run in as soon as he finds out that this demands were not meant, or met. Well, in the bar is just this guy. Okay.

He's the only one, because this place is kind of a charred hut. It's not, like, there's no drinks to serve. It's just a burnt building and this guy is, it's almost like a power play. This guy's squatting on this little, you know, I mean, it's like, you know where to find me. As soon as you tell me what I want to hear, I'll report back to Jeb. That kind of thing. Alright then. So, we're up. Excuse me, sir. This dude is sitting with a knife cleaning his fingernails with it. Just, just real skeevy. Not scared. And he kind of looks up from what he's doing. Yeah?

I'll give him the full on stare. I haven't really expressed it in the past or whatever, but, uh, Gavin tends to stare at people when he talks sometimes and he has this crazy cobalt blue eyes, like the color of the weird glass you generally get. That crazy kind of blue. So, you just sort of like give him that kind of uncomfortable, just not threatening, just really just staring at him. Just unblinking kind of? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, let's focus. Okay. I understand that you've lost a family member recently, or sorry, one of yours has lost a great number of people, including a family member.

My condolences. Yep, that's Jeb. I imagine you talked to the captain? Yes, I did. Captain Harroway. Then you know what's going on. I do indeed. An ultimatum has been placed upon this establishment. They need to produce those that have caused Jeb wrong, otherwise everyone will suffer. Kind of looks around a bit. Not that there would be much more to knock over. This place is like a falling house of cards as is. Yep, real shithole. Yeah, this is Jeb, man. I'm just here to report. Clock's ticking too, and he kind of like, only have a few hours left. Of course. What if we could tell Jeb where to find the people that did this, but they are out of our reach right now to bring him back in the time frame he wants?

Do I look stupid to you, boy? Would you look like somebody who wants to get a particular ultimatum taken care of? Do you want to be the one to delay this? I imagine Jeb wants somebody to hang, and you might look just fine amongst everyone else. Very matter of fact. Roll an Intimidate check. I shall. Here we go. Please give me that natural 20, I would like that now. A 12. Not so great. Oh, a heroic effort for four more? No. Okay. Very well. Like I said, this between the town and Jeb. They killed his brother, he wants an eye for an eye. I get it. Not to mention, I mean we just lost our entire branch in the town and now they're not making any money, there's no whorehouse, so I don't really care one way or the other.

I mean it's gonna happen, just whether you guys are here or not. And then he's kind of looking you over. So you're military men, huh? Yes. I made you bring. Just a slap. Right, okay. I believe we're done here. And he's just kind of, like he's staring at you the entire time. If you're just gonna walk away, he's gonna stare as you leave and then just go back to kind of like sitting there. Yeah, I imagine Marcus ain't got nothing else to say either. Actually, I'll tell him if you want to go back and report to Jeb that the crew that did this has left and is gone from this area and they aren't coming back anytime soon, that's fine.

If Jeb wants to come here, he can be told as well that this town is now under the protection of the Overwatch. And if he wants to mess with the people who are buying from him and completely cut off his supply, that's his decision. You're talking to a flunky, don't worry about that. I'm just playing off that. So this guy's just kind of, listen, flunky. Boy, I hope you brought a lot more than just you two if you're gonna defend this town. It's not even a town anymore. It's just kind of a burn up husk. And by the way, I don't think Jeb cares if they're here or not.

He'll burn down this town and then go search for them wherever they might be, but it's just as much on Arroway as it is them. Well, Arroway I don't think actually did anything to harm Jeb's brother, but like I said, if he wants to find the crew that did this, tell them they're up north. He just goes right back to what he was doing. He just kind of like dismisses it. Okay. All right, Gavin. Let's go. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Flunky. Okay. You guys got a decision to make. Now, is this a thing where you're just basically gonna wait it out and wait for Jeb to come to the town or are you going to actively seek him out or how do you want to handle this?

It's actually open fee. Would try to bring up some clues about that. Fingers crossed. Yep. Okay. That would be like streetwise, wouldn't it? Yeah. Roll a streetwise check. Okie dokie. 19. 19. Word on the street basically is that everyone's terrified. This Jeb guy, while not the biggest, not the strongest, he is extremely cutthroat. Murl was kind of the brawn and this guy was more the brains. Extremely opportunistic and... Loyalty is not one of his chief concerns. The only person he had any loyalty to was his brother and now he's dead. So, hence the "I want blood and retribution" type of thing.

You did find out that he has made camp pretty much just outside of Durran Hollow and he's just waiting for word. He's given them a certain amount of time and when time runs out he's just gonna ride into town and burn the whole fucking thing down. Kill anyone that gets in his way. Alright. How many people are actually in this town still? Very small town. A bunch of people fled after the fire. And then you had a few hangars on who owned businesses or something but a lot of them just kind of took off. So you're looking at half the town's original population.

So you're only looking at like 500 people somewhere in there? It's a pretty small town. Okay. And how long do we have before Flunky #1 goes back to report? Well after you told him, he'll pretty much break now. Like he'll pretty much leave. If you're telling him that it's not gonna happen then he'll probably just get ready and pack his stuff and head out. Alright. Do we think we can get these people out of here in time guys? Do we think we just tell them grab your stuff, grab whatever you need and head toward our city? You'll find safety there. Let him burn useless wood to the ground.

The town's already destroyed. Or do we want to try and confront him when he gets here and try and talk him into taking off after the group that killed his brother? So many people. This is their home and the few of them are just gonna be like "No I'm not leaving. I will die with this." There's strong loyalty here. Plus if we hold this position, part of our mission is to basically secure even this husk. Even if we have to bring in a small tent city after us. But this is looking like there's only one solution. Well the enemy of my enemy is our friend. So if we can get him to go after the people we're fighting, we can hit two birds with one stone.

That was my intent when I was telling him "We can tell you where to go look." So if we want to try that when he gets here that's fine. But anybody who wants to leave, we ought to get the word out. Anybody who wants to leave should head back, take off, get out of the town at least. Take what they want. We should offer them the wagons so they can get back to Overwatch. Sure. Anybody who needs to pile stuff in the wagon can and then they can just take off. We also need to get back with the Sheriff and see if there's anybody else here who's willing to fight.

If not, he can start passing the word around faster than we can to get everybody out of there. Can somebody please don't tell me that that child we met at the front is going to try and stand with us? Or send a junior off there. We should talk to him and send him on the very important mission of making sure that everyone gets back to Overwatch safely. I love it. Good idea. Do we know in which direction he's camped out? Because we don't want... Is that the Overwatch way? No. Okay, that's fine. No, this would be more towards the Deadwood. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I didn't want to just kind of go, "Okay, right, load your up onto a car and there you go." And like two minutes down the road they're like, "Oh, shit." So you're, you're, okay, you're talking to Airway basically about a full scale evacuation. Anybody who can get out should at least ride six hours the opposite direction, wait for four hours and then come back. Clear out as best you can, folks. So, okay, Airway's just, okay, he's listening to you, you know, describe the plan. Do you, you know how long it's going to take me to get everybody out of town, right?

Well, how about you target the women and children first and tell the men to be ready to defend themselves? I don't know how defensible the menfolk are going to be. I mean, most of these are drunks, layabouts. I lost a lot of my guard after the fire. Well, the larger that it looks like, the more intimidating it will look like. We don't need them to fight necessarily. We just need them to look like they're ready to. All right, so the plan is just take on Jeb when he gets here? We're going to try to talk to him first. We're going to try and direct him to where, what his ultimate goal is.

He wants the men that killed his brother and we can tell him where to find them. Well, I can tell you Jeb's a lot of things, but reasonable ain't one of them. Give it a shot though. We have to try first. There's nothing for him to be gained here. He's not going to get the people he wanted. So we'll pass the information along and then deal with the consequences from there. All right. I'll evacuate everyone and get out. Okay. And Airway starts kind of just hollering, just rounding people up. Just, just tell them, let's go, let's get out. Come on, come on, come on.

Una, you going to go find that, that, uh, checkpoint Charlie kid? Yeah. Yeah, let's do that. Okay. Um, kid standing right where you left him, just kind of at the, at the border to the town. Just, just, just standing there. Okay. Um, I'm going to give like a really, really sharp, really intense salute and say, sir. Uh, and he does the same and knocks his helmet off his head. Oh. So he, he bends down real quick to pick it up and put it back on. I'm going to pretend I didn't see anything. Um, and say, the leadership of the town is a very important mission for you, sir.

Go on. We are evacuating citizens to Overwatch to prevent any danger coming to them in any incoming fight. And we need you to look after them on the journey. Um, and he's going to shake his head aggressively and the helmets just like bobbling all over his, his head and shit. Do you want me to guard the wagon? No, the wagon's going to be used to help anybody who needs to get out of here. So we need you to help tell everybody to pile their stuff in the wagon and then get on out of town for a while. And then when you come back, we'll have another job for you.

Okay. Okay. And he just like, he starts like sprinting aggressively back into town. Like he's just kind of hollering at people. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Like just real energetic. Um, do you, okay, let's, let's do this. Let's skip ahead forward in time a bit. Okay. Um, let's do, you know what, let's do this. We can even use the same map cause, okay. Leaning into Durnhollow. Let's cut, let's cut a few hours forward. So a force is riding into town and this is, this is, this is an interesting pack. Uh, and it looks to be made up of a collection of scumbags and people dressed in full gladiator gear.

Uh, and at the front of the pack is this, uh, this, the shorter guy. Um, if a sweat stain could take on the form of a man, that would be Jeb Richards. Just skeevy. Just, just, God, I can't even like, if you could just picture like the kind of guy, just inappropriate touching and, and just, just, just really skeevy. Just not used to hearing the words, no. His mustache, so pencil thin. So just riding into town like they own the, just like they own the place cause they kind of do. Um, and they're gonna, they're gonna all dismount and, uh, and walk in. Um, the, the, the flunky had, had kind of rode off a little while ago and told them what's up.

So they're pretty much coming in guns blazing. That's their, that's, that's, that's what they're here for. And, uh, Jeff, so let's do this. Let's put your characters on the map. Let's say in this area right here. Okay. Which are they coming from the top of the map or the bottom of the map? Yes. Top of the map. They're coming from top of the map. Human goons. Goons. Hired goons. Hired goons. Hey, the numbers are back. Yeah, they are. Okay. So Jeb is, is, is wandering into town here and, um, he can already see that like he's not getting his way. Like the, the group that did this is not in front of him.

He was given a description and this ain't it. So you can already see this man is displeased. Like he's, he's walking into town and just like, all right, just, I guess I'm going to have to burn this motherfucker down. That's, that's his attitude already walking into the conversation. Um, if one of you wants to step forward, it looks like he's going to try and walk past this group, like paying you no mind. He's going to try to just walk into town and start setting fires. Oh, I have a nine. I have plus 11. Yeah. Do you want to do this Marcus? I mean, like, I'm totally okay with that.

Okay. I'll, I'll step forward. Um, just be aware also, mechanically speaking, you get a plus one bonus because Una is nearby. Okay. And I'll stand next to her. Besides she's got bigger muscles and... Jeb, um, unfortunately, as you've probably heard, the group you're looking for is not here. I'm sorry to tell you that, but we do know where they have headed. Destroying this town really would do you no good, but if you take off after the group now, you're only a day and a half behind. Uh, go ahead and roll diplomacy check. 14. 15. 15. 15. It's not bad. It's not great.

Ain't about doing me no good. I'm just here to burn this town down. It's about right. Uh, I'm gonna... What did the town do? Oh, you're asking him what did the town do? The town tried to get rid of these people for you. The town tried to take care of them. Tried to kill the group that came after you. That's what the problem was, is they couldn't do it. Burning a bunch of empty buildings isn't gonna help. It's just gonna delay your gratification, killing those who did. The way I see it, we're the ones keeping this town alive. We're the only ones who bring any kind of money in here.

Yeah, that town should have rose up and take care of the people that took care of my brother. They tried, and the people that took care of your brother took off before they could get to them. But they did get you the description, and they did get you where they were... the direction they were headed, and we've got where they're going. Where they can be found at. That's the type of information you want. Plus, do you supply some of your slaves to our group? To our city? Are you looking to buy? I'm curious if we do do business with you or not. A long time ago, did some in the past.

Ain't much need for moles in the Overwatch. No, not at the current time, but they are bringing back. You've possibly heard of the Tournament of Champions? I have. It's gonna be started up again, and I have a hunch they're gonna need some creatures to help fight. What if we could get you an in on who to talk to about that? I'm doing this as a straight business proposition. You leave this town alone, and we can get you the person you need to talk to in Overwatch about potentially buying some of your moles. I hear our country is slowly becoming more southern as you talk to this guy.

Stop talking like an Alabamian. Trying to fit in. Totally not saying this is how Alabama people talk. I'm not trying to say that at all. This is a terrible southern accent. I am not. Stop that. Why? It keeps the emails coming in. Yeah, but I want nice emails. That seems like another diplomacy check to me. Just to see if this guy would buy what you're selling. 24. That's much better. 25. Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. So, you hook us up with a sale and give the information we want about that group that killed my brother. Sure. And all you want is us not to burn this town down.

Correct. And he kinda looks at his boys. Alright. But if the information you give us don't pan out, I'm gonna come back. That's fair enough. I can agree with that. Let's just kill him now. It's so much easier. Do you say that? Fuck it, yeah. That sounds like something you would do. It does sound like her, but... I don't want to have to come back and force the stranger in a hollow. The information doesn't pan out because he's not a good tracker. And you say that? Yeah, I'll kind of whisper that over my shoulder to Jadzia. Not that much of a whisper. It's gonna be gone for quite a while chasing this tale.

We'll have a force established here by the time he gets back. Alright, well hold on a second. Hold on a second. Hold on a second. So, he's obviously contemplating this deal and then Una says what she says. He's "You better hold that girlie's tongue before I cut it out of her." I'm gonna stick my tongue out at him. Hey, Jep, if the information doesn't pan out correctly, you'll have more than ample opportunity to cut her tongue out. And Jep's just hard staring at Una. Blow him a kiss. Do you seriously? Yeah, fuck it. Okay. Jep's gonna pull the small knife out that's on the side of his fucking belt and he's gonna start advancing towards Una.

And he is going to get this close, like nose to nose with her. You taunting me, girl? Maybe I just think you're cute. Roll a bluff check, because that's a lie. I get a plus one to bluff because I have the seducer perk. Eleven. That's not... He knows he's gross. His momma told him every day in the morning. God, you're ugly. He's gonna hold the knife up to the side of Una's face and just kind of trail the edge of the blade along her cheek. Kill him. Now, why don't I believe you? And he's like sliding the knife around her face. Oh man, I want to punch this motherfucker.

She's a terrible liar. We know this, but she speaks her mind and we can't help it. I can't keep them under control very well either. I'm sure you understand what it's like dealing with people who won't close their mouth when it should be closed. And he says, "You know, matter of fact I do, but you know what I do when that happens?" And he motions back towards his boys and he kind of motions his hands like, "Come here." And this really big mole steps forward. And like this, it towers over Jeb. Big fucker. Full gladiator. That's a little bit of a complication right there.

Grel, show him what I do to people who mouth off. And Grel, without a word, kind of opens his mouth and shows that his tongue has been cut out. Well, I wish I could do something like that at times, but to be honest, just looking at her, she scares the jelly out of my donut. So, I tend to just let her talk and clean up the mess afterwards. Well then, let me show you a little something I can do for you as a good faith gesture. Gavin's had enough. Out comes the lawn and he's gonna blast. Okay. Yeah, hammer's coming out. Okay. Group one of every- three! I mean three!

Group three! That's what I meant. I now have a new sympathy for Malkus. And I didn't even get to yell "Blue." Crimson guys! I take the chance when it comes, sir. Okay. Okay, so let's say for role-playing's sake that Una's just standing there. Like, she's waiting for this guy to make a move and he's about to just cut her face. Gavin is gonna whip out his wand and just blast him. So, go ahead and get a surprise attack in there, Gav. Okay. Looks like an eight, but the damage isn't done, but he is going to take the debuff where he takes a minus two penalty to end the attack rolls.

Okay. So, in this- okay. So, he's like really focused on trailing this knife all over her face. And then just as he's about to cut her, Gavin just jumps in like, "Nope! Fuck that!" Boom! And blasts him with this thing. It doesn't hurt him, but at the same time it's incredibly distracting and a shot has been fired. So, everyone roll initiative! You got it. I picture it like some kind of crazy-ass snowflakes and then it comes around him and they turn into little ice shards and just start slashing at him. Yeah. I like Ro. Okay. Let's be friends. Jed's here can sidestep and nail a bunch of other shit he needs to.

So, here's what's going to happen. Grell... okay. Grell is going to swing- so he's got this warhammer in hand. And he's going to swing at Gavin twice. As a result of him, you know, just- yeah. So, one, two. 22 and 20. Both hit. Okay. So, let's roll damage. 12 and 18. So, that's 20 damage. And you fall prone. Can I take some of the damage for Gavin? You're not standing next to yourself. Oh, no, I'm not. Damn it. Oh, actually, yeah, I can endure pain. Let's go down this. Okay. First off, I'm going to use my new power, endure pain. When I'm hit by an attack, the very first time I get that hit until the end of my next turn, I'm basically going to get a 5 resist.

So, I'm only going to take 5 of that damage. Oh, sorry. Let's try this again. Let's subtract 10 from that total damage I just took. 10 damage. Oh, this was 17- no, no, you're right. It was 20, my bad. Total of 20. So, now it's 10. So, I'll adjust that. So, yeah. The first blow hits and I take it and I'm just like ready for the second one. As the second one comes swinging in, I'm going to invoke Vengeance is Mine. Okay. Which I will- hmm. I am wandifying right now, so that's not much of an attack. That can probably just stand melee basic with bare hands. Sure, you can do that.

Alright, then. So, I'll be reduced. It's- Again, I don't- I don't penalize- like you're holding a different weapon. Let's say that right after the blast you just switched to your weapon. I never- Okay, thanks. Longsword time. Yeah, so basically it just drops the wand and he's immediately going for the longsword. Yeah. He swings out. That's 20 to hit. That's 20 beat his AC. It will. Oh, actually, I'm very sorry. Let's back it up one more step. Okay. Sorry for all this. In the beginning. In the beginning, yeah. Group 3 headed out to go get stones. No. The 20 would have hit and I would do the endure and I would take that.

However, the 20 he rolled became an 8. Okay, I think we're just going to activate endure pain and, you know, take one of the blows and take less damage, which is a total of 7 hit points lost. So, I'll go and gain back 3. No, no, I just lost 3? That's hilarious. It's funny I have to add. So, okay, clarify. Okay. Basically, you're taking the first blow but not the second, correct? That is correct. That weird snowflake crap is in his eyes, as it were. Okay, so then you're taking the 12 but not the 8? Yes, and then I'm reducing it further by using endure pain when I take the blow.

Until the end of my next turn I've got basically resistance to 5 to all attacks. Okay. You are still prone. Oh yeah, I got knocked on my ass. Jatzia, your turn. Alright, I am going to Warlock Curse Jeb. I mean, yes, Jeb. And then I will use Dire Radiance, which is against his charisma. No, fortitude. He has no charisma. No, fortitude is my charisma or constitution. Oh wow, that's not, no. That's an 8. That is gonna miss. Have fun with your turns, everybody. Do you want to shift or move or anything? I think I'm okay where I am. Yeah, I have three squares but I got Una blocking me, so.

Okay, cool. Let's see, Jeb's turn. Alright. He's gonna use Goating Command to start, which is a minor at will. And he is going to have one ally within six squares of him move at speed as a free action, so he is going to have one of these big burly gladiators, one, two, three move right over here to Una. Cool. And Jeb is gonna take his knife and try and cut at Una's face. Ooh baby. Don't ruin the glory. That's a 16 to AC. Miss. That's a miss, so he's gonna try and slash at your face and miss. And then he's going to shift back one. That's cause that did not work.

Fucking coward. Fee, yeah, yeah, kinda. Fee, your turn. Okey dokey. I missed the okey dokey. The okey dokey. It's back. Yeah. Bring an okey dokey back. Okay, I'm just gonna go straight off range basic attack at Jeb. 18. 18 is going to now vs AC. Yep, yep, cool. Damage. 9. 9 damage. Yep. Anything else? I can't get combat advantage against him or anything else. So yeah, I'll leave it at that. Human goon number one is going to move up to Una and use his club attack. 23 vs AC. Yes, that will hit. That's 5 damage. Wait, does he get the -2 thing that Gavin did to his attacks?

He does. Yeah, he does. Let's see, New Ball Gladiator 3. 1, 2, 3. How much damage did he do? 5. Just a flat 5. New Ball Gladiator 3 is going to move up to Fee. And he's going to try and cut your hamstring. 15 vs Reflex. Reflex, no miss. Okay, so that's totally failed. New Ball Gladiator number one is going to try and do the same thing to Una. 9. So never mind. These Gladiators suck. Gavin, your turn. I'd like to stand up please. Alright, as a reaction to you standing up. Grell is going to use Pursuing Shove. And he is going to see that you stand up and grasp you by the chest and run three spaces as a shift in the opposite direction.

Damn. Actually, let me see if this attack hits before I do that. Oh, okay. Before I actually do that thing that we were just talking about. Let me see if this attack hits. 24 vs your Fortitude. So yeah, we're going to take a stroll. Let's take a stroll. Yeah. Now go ahead and take your turn. Okay, he has definitely singled me out. He has singled me out. That is an awesome move. And my move is gone. I'm no longer prone, right? Right, you're no longer prone. He just lifted me up and went "Whoa!" That's how I talk to you. What shall I do? This is bad. I was going to do something.

I'm going to use... I've got to stop this guy. I'm going to go with Intuitive Strike. I'm going to strike at his Willpower. As he's grabbing me up like that, I'm going to try to use the hilt of my blade and bat him against the ears. And I've got a 9. That was a horrible natural 1. I'm just being carried along. Let's see, I've still got a Miner. Due to the shock. I wasn't expecting to be lifted up. It's like "Errrr!" I can't get purchase. Alright then, I am... looks like my turn is at an end. Alright, Una. Windfury Assault. I'm going to fly over to Jeb. You cowardly motherfucker!

And 17 versus AC. That will just miss his AC. Fuck! We're all gaffer. Nope. She's not human. I'm half human. Well you get the half without heroic effort. Is there anything that I can... plus 1 for thinking speedy? Yes. I will give you that. That will hit. Yes. Okay, damage. 10. 10 damage. Alright. And I'm going to pop a divine challenge on... It's a human goo... number 1. The first of the human goo. Divine challenge. Okay. Sorry you gotta be that guy. You didn't actually hit him during this turn, so the divine challenge would melt as soon as your turn is over. Best likely throw it at Jeb.

Oh, okay fine. I'll put it on Jeb. As a reaction to you hitting him, Jeb's going to use something called Sand in the Eye. And he is just basically going... Yes. He's going to bend down and grab just dirt or sand or whatever's near and just try and throw it at your eyesight. So, 15 versus Will. That is my Will. Okay. So... A minus 2 to that attack. Oh! Does not hit. Oh! Okay. Then yeah, that misses. Marcus, your turn. Alright, since none of these guys have been attacked, I'm going to hit Shiny. I'm going to throw out a shining symbol. Which will close blast 3. So if I go 1, 2, 3, I nail all 3 of those guys.

So, let's see... Attack versus... Highest modifier versus Will. This is as far as your blast is going to go for 3. Oh, yeah, 3. So I'll get 2 of them. That's alright. They go prone. And a minus 2. Nice. So we're going against Jeb. 9. That's probably not going to hit. Versus Will. And then against Goon 2. Yes. 16. So he is knocked prone. Minus 2... Oh, no, I'm sorry. He's not knocked prone. He has a minus 2 penalty and he takes 9 damage. Okay. A minus 2 to attack or damage? It says to attack rolls. To the end of my next turn. Okay. And that's labeled. Oh, never mind. He's dead.

Whoa! One shot, one kill, guys. That's not... Anything else? No, I... Well... No, I'm going to stay where I'm at. So I'll be done. Let's see. New Ball Gladiator number 2 is going to spring to Jeb's aid. Now is that Nitro or is that one of the other gladiators? Merlin got the joke good. An American Gladiator's reference. This is Laser. His friend Blazer. Damn it. Not Laser. Such a fucking old reference. My god. Wait, it can't be that old. It can't be that old. Dude, a young Mike Adamly was on that show. That's old. That's an old, old show. No one remembers that. No one even remembers the reboot with Hulk Hogan like a couple of years ago.

This is Hulk Hogan and what's his name? Matt Morgan was on it. No one fucking remembers that. It was on network television and no one remembers that. Sorry, let's just... I have to make one reference every game that nobody's going to get but Merlin still somehow knows. We had to... I watched it as a kid. And if I watched it as a kid, I know Brie and Izzy have no fucking idea what we're doing. It wasn't that great a show. It wasn't. It was silly. Oh, never mind. We'll explain it later. So... Where the fuck was I? He distracted me completely. New Ball Gladiator number 2 is going to run up to Una and try and cut her hamstring.

My reflex is... Oh my god. Okay, yeah, that hits. 14 versus reflex. Just barely. So that is 10 damage. And you are slowed, save ends. And that'll bring us back to Grille. He is going to try and take another couple of Warhammer strikes at Gavin. So let's do the first one. 20 to AC. So that is 13 damage. And then he's going to swing at you a second time. Do you have anything to do for the second swing? Oh, for that 20 it's actually bumped down to an 18 and that will not beat my defense. Oh, that won't? Oh, okay. I thought you were saying your AC was 18. And the second one is 17.

So no, you don't get hit by either. Awesome. Good for you. Defending myself. So you're holding up your shield and he's just swinging down with his fucking hammer and band. Stop hitting me! Let me go! *laughs* Jatzia, your turn. Great. I don't really have anything that attacks a group of people so I'm going to have to keep up what I'm doing. I am going to use Diabolic Grasp against... Well, before I do anything I'll do Warlock Curse on Nuval Gladiator number one. This goon is closest and I might as well. Do Unhuman Goon because we don't want to hear the gladiators.

The gladiators are under the employ, right? They're not slaves? Yeah, are they slaves? Okay, nevermind. Goons are not slaves. I'll do the goon then. I was confused. I didn't know. I didn't know which was which. Goon it up, Goonie. Hired goons? I'll just use Eldritch Blast against him then. Okay. 14 versus reflex. That'll hit. Yay! I'm going to get... So 15 damage. You're going to blast this guy with your Dark Shadow shit and he's just going to fall down dead. Yay! Anything else? I know. You play such a dark character you're adorable. He may want to move too just to get that benefit of defense.

I will circle around. No, I don't want him to hit me. I don't want that guy to hit me either. Let me zoom out a little bit. Yeah, that's a good idea. Perfect. There we go. And then I get Shadow Step. Stuff, concealment, and all that nonsense. Okay. Jesus, Jeb. Jeb's turn. Little bitch. Little bitch. Little bitch. He is going to slash once more at Una's face. What's with this guy? 18 versus AC. Yeah, that's a good one. 16 versus AC. That'll still miss. Okay. He is going to shift one back. Fucking... Fie, your turn. Okay. I'm going to... Unbalancing Trick. Nice. And I'm going to smack him in the face with my sword.

I love how the team knows that Jeb is... bring Jeb down. Well, he's obviously the ringleader of this little circus here. 20. That'll hit. Damage... 10. 10 damage? And... can I use Backstab as well? Action point? You'd need to do that, man. Oh, would you? Basically, your first hit you got no combat advantage, so you couldn't do that Backstab power. Oh, okay. But now that he's on his ass, even a standard melee strike, if you throw in Backstab with your melee basic, you get that +3 and all that good stuff that comes with it. And your sneak attack damage. Okay, well hold on a second.

A reaction to you hitting him, he's going to use Sand in the Eye. 18. So 16. And then two more is 14. Yeah. Okay. Yes, I'm going to adjust that. Does that count the Una's marking him? You're going after Jeb? Well, he's a reactionary, but like... yeah. I didn't know if that... because he is technically attacking a different target, so yeah. So another -2. And he takes like what, 9 damage? 9 damage straight up, that's right. Good lord. Okay. That's hardy. I love that. Also, as a reaction of him being bloodied, it's going to trigger something called Fear of the Lash.

This kid's just a fucking coward. All his powers are coward. Which means one of the gladiators over here, gladiator number 3, is going to shift up right behind Fae and try and defend Jeb. He's going to use an at-will attack, so he's going to use his shortsword attack on Fae. 23, but technically that's 25. Martyr's Blessing. Oh, he may be interrupted by the damage. Yes! Yes! Thank you! Clang, clang, clang. Sorry. This is beautiful. 12 damage to Una. Money to Keelan. I'll get you as soon as I can. I've got land hands too, I forgot about that. So Una springs into action and just eats this sword for Fae.

Go ahead Fae, what else you got? You have a prone and bloodied Jeb at your feet. Yeah, fuck it. Action point. Yes! Stab him in the dick. He's not that good of a shot. Okay, so action point for another melee basic attack. Set is 29. Natural crit. Wow! I just walked his head off. Okay, so that is 14. Maybe you did get him in the way. 1d10 plus 4. How are you swinging at him, sir? How would you like to finish him off? Okay, he's line of prone in front of me, just like from the ground straight up his body. Okay. So you're trying to popsicle him eventually, just jam? It's Willy.

Adorable. Call this one the endowment bender? That's Bree calling you adorable. That's a new level of adorable. That will murder Jeb. Even before the sneak attack damage, which is 3d6. It's just a look of pure pain and shock. The light fades from his eyes and he dies. Yes! So, no more Jeb. Is that all you want to do? I think that's everything I can do. So yeah. Gladiator number 3. So they all see that Jeb's dead. And his flunkies. There seems to be this realization amongst the group, the remaining. Like the remaining. This gladiator is about to sink his blade into fee and then it's just kind of a "huh".

Yeah, Gavin will yell "weapons away, we're done". It's more ceremonial, everybody obviously knows that we've not laid a hand on these guys. And the gladiators are just, okay, so you're putting your weapons away and the gladiators are just kind of like taken aback like "okay". And they're gonna sheathe their weapons as well. And Grell, who is standing over with Gavin, Yeah. Is just gonna kind of reach over and dust off his shoulder where he was knocked prone earlier. Aww. Of course he's not going to say anything because he physically can't. No hard feelings there, Grell.

And he's just gonna give this real slow kind of solemn nod. Alright. He's like "you're not beholden to anyone but obviously your previous owners are now no more. Let's just take up a hand to helping these people out instead of burning down this town. Let's try to rebuild it. Let's make it better". And Grell's kind of, you can see him look back towards the town. And he's just gonna kind of nod his head yes and start walking back towards town and the gladiators are gonna follow him into town. So these guys are pretty much help clear debris or build or whatever you need them to do because they're big strapping fucks.

That's kind of their thing. Marcus, please eat at Una. Yeah, I'll say Marcus, please eat at Una. Yeah, because ugh. We're holding my life. We can just pop surges and whatnot that we need. True, true. Yeah, so you're good. I think us saving the goddamn day is like the best place to stop. Yeah, I think it's a pretty good time to stop today guys. We did well. Good job. Yeah, that was so much fun. Just this scumbag threatening to cut Una's face like that's his go-to move like I'm gonna cut your fucking face like that's he's such a piece of shit. Every attack was like "hit her for me".

Just that's every attack. And then all those negatives like "eh". Yeah. I like the fact that we basically had him convinced that okay, yeah, look we'll send you some business and there's the guys you're looking for and then it just went "nah, I'll just beat him up". That seems to be your whole character. I love it. Well, like for her it's like why are we bargaining with this piece of shit? Like why would we? Well, we got the job done. That's the important part. Let's make sure we get these guys' names so that way they don't feel like just "hey you guys that used to be slaves".

Zap, Nitro, and Ice. Oh, cause we killed Laser. We burned out Laser. American Gladiators was this dumb fucking show where contestants like these semi-athletic people would compete in these little competitions like obstacle courses and stuff. And these big strapping bodybuilder assholes would knock the shit out of them whenever they got a chance. You can tell these guys are just straight bullies and they enjoyed beating up guys. The contestants were always much smaller than the actual people who were competing against them. Like real gladiator matches. Brie, did you ever see the show Wipeout with the obstacle courses?

Picture instead of the obstacles it was muscle heads beating people with foam sticks and tennis balls that were shot out of rocket launchers. Oh yeah, that's... The crowd ate it up too. They're like "yeah, kick those fuckers asses". And I watched the crap out of that shit. And these guys are like... the gladiators are ridiculously fit. That's all these guys do is they're hanging out in a gym all day long. They're steroid mongers. Well yeah. But they would have... hold on a second let me see if this is a good clip. So they would have these little guys run... it's like "ok, there's these balls in a pit.

See how many of them you can grab before the gladiator gets to you?" And when the gladiator catches you they can pretty much do whatever they want to restrain you or whatever. So they would pick them up and throw them down and slam them. Sometimes they would actually just throw full on punches. Damn. They would put big padded things on the end of staves and then they would stand on top of small discs and have to beat each other with them until they could knock one or the other person fell. That was the chalice. That was actually my favorite of the things.

Because it was a hell of a thing. They actually had somewhat semi-good footing because as long as they hit them in the proper place they could bring them down. But it was hard. Yeah. You could tell they were just screwing with them half the time. Dude. God. Powerball was the worst. Powerball was literally like "ok, there's these little cylinders and you have this little rubber ball and you have to get past the gladiator and put the fucking rubber ball in the cylinder." And it never happened. And if you did score the gladiator then you had to keep going. And they got pissed when you did.

Oh, they were pissed. I think they got bonuses if they didn't let anything like that happen. You just took my beer money, you son of a bitch. These guys were all the captain of the football team and everybody else was the little nerd beating them at something physical. Yup. It was just time to pummel them at that point. Unacceptable. Yeah, they would have this like, you'd be trying to run across this area and they had this machine gun that fired tennis balls. And they were just stung like shit. Pelting the hell out of people with them. And they'd be like "yeah, let's see the instant replay.

Look, this is where it's colliding with its face. Ahh. What a bitch." And they had women do the same thing. So there were two groups of guys and two groups of women. And then the women gladiators were sometimes as large as the male gladiators. Uh huh. Oh, they were huge. Diamond and they also had ridiculous names too. This woman is going to eat you alive name. Yeah. Blaze. Blaze. Sky. Saber. Mostly stripper names, so yeah. Yeah, mostly stripper names.